distend

Pregnancy is a wonder, even through the finale when a parent pushes their newborns into the world, and those tiny humans distend the most intimate parts of their bodies.

From Salon ● Nov. 9, 2025

Its body seemed to distend, its muscles to melt.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 11, 2019

Does the league really want to so distend its compensation scale for any commissioner, much less this one?

From Washington Post ● Nov. 14, 2017

This disorder arises when defective valves allow blood to accumulate within the veins, causing them to distend, twist, and become visible on the surface of the integument.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

The face of Etienne’s watch appears to distend.

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

What might have been a crisp and moody entertainment, in Graham Greene’s elevated sense of that word, distends.

From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2023

Food that distends the stomach initiates long reflexes.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

Within an hour of lunch, the stomach distends to the point where pants need to be unbuttoned, and it remains this way for the rest of the day.

From US News ● Nov. 21, 2012

An analogy often invoked across Afghanistan is that of the water-filled bag: squeeze the bottom, the top distends.

From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2012

It has disappeared; the open spots change place, the sombre folds advance and retreat, a sort of wind from the sepulchre pushes forward, hurls back, distends, and disperses these tragic multitudes.

From Les Misérables by Hapgood, Isabel Florence

Onyeaka wondered if that abundance could be harnessed to feed people in conflict zones where children were suffering from malnutrition, their distended stomachs a clear sign of protein deficiency.

From Salon ● Jan. 29, 2025

He still had the slightly distended belly and sagging skin which indicate malnutrition in children.

From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2024

The first two were great fun, and apparently being subsumed into the distended viscera of the MCU won’t stop “Deadpool and Wolverine” or whatever from being R-rated fun.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2024

Cardiac activity can influence auditory and visual perception, and touch and sensory perceptions have been shown to be impaired during the systolic phase of the cardiac cycle when blood vessels are briefly distended.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 28, 2023

His legs were already spindly and his taut, distended belly, like his tiny mother’s goiter, was completely at odds with the rest of his thin, narrow body and alert face.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

Songs like “No Good Deed” and “March of the Witch Hunters” are chopped up and rearranged to allow for more dialogue and less emoting, distending the film into a bloated heap.

From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2025

I think what we are going for is condensing stage time, while distending mythic time … if that makes ANY sense!

From New York Times ● Nov. 22, 2021

It’s a reminder that our smallness is sometimes petty, the unwelcome gravity of others’ suffering distending her grief.

From Slate ● Jun. 9, 2016

Maintaining vascular tone within the veins prevents the veins from merely distending, dampening the flow of blood, and as you will see, vasoconstriction actually enhances the flow.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

It is misleading to describe the expansion of the universe as a sort of distending bubble viewed from the outside.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan