dilate

Atropine eye drops are typically used to dilate the pupil before eye exams.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025

As a result, blood flow to that area increases dramatically as blood vessels dilate, causing pain and swelling.

From National Geographic ● Feb. 21, 2024

A typical remedy is to stretch or dilate the urethra, a minimally invasive procedure that is often performed with general anesthesia, Dr. Lepor said.

From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2024

Although it is not an ordinary high blood pressure medicine, it can dilate blood vessels.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2023

Woo glances up at the last second, and his large pupils dilate in recognition.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

It's a different sort of time and it moves, it dilates.

From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2024

Their study, published Dec. 5 in the journal Cell, focuses on nitric oxide, a compound that dilates blood vessels, improves memory, fights infection and stimulates the release of hormones, among other functions.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 8, 2023

Adenosine is a by-product of energy metabolism, but it also acts as an inhibitory neurotransmitter—a chemical messenger that affects brain cells and dilates blood vessels.

From Scientific American ● Oct. 25, 2023

The drug also dilates the cervix and blocks the effects of progesterone, which is needed to sustain a pregnancy.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 8, 2022

It sucks and booms and splashes and rumbles; it shifts and dilates and falls over itself; the labyrinth of Saint-Malo has opened onto a portal of sound larger than anything she has ever experienced.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

And if the aorta is dilated a certain amount, patients often undergo an elective surgery to fix it.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026

The fetus’ head was pressed up against her dilated cervix, and a miscarriage was, according to her medical record, “inevitable.”

From Salon ● May 27, 2026

About 35 minutes in, Lamphere’s vitals started spiking; her heart rate quickened, she grew hot, her pupils dilated, she began grinding her teeth.

From Slate ● Jan. 30, 2026

After she was released, she went to the hospital where doctors told her she had already dilated two centimeters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2025

One of his pupils was dilated and the other wasn’t, but no one knew what that meant.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

Scholars and intellectuals dilating in their little books: None of that matters anymore.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026

Erectile dysfunction drugs, which work by dilating blood vessels to allow more blood to flow through, were first developed to treat high blood pressure.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 7, 2024

The exhaustive format played to President Macron's strengths: his mastery of detail and obvious delight in dilating on every conceivable subject.

From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2024

Some also have trouble with the lining of their small blood vessels not dilating and constricting properly to move blood through, she added.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 9, 2023

The gray-haired man, his nostrils dilating, appeared to take a fairly deep breath.

From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger