dilate.
To enlarge; to make bigger.
Meaning & usage
To enlarge; to make bigger.
The eye doctor put drops in my eye to dilate the pupil so he could see the nerve better.
To become wider or larger; to expand.
His heart dilates and glories in his strength.
To speak largely and copiously; to dwell in narration; to enlarge; with "on" or "upon".
To use a dilator to widen (something, such as a vagina).
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Latin dīlātōder. Old French dilaterder. Middle English dilaten English dilate First attested in 1393, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English dilaten, from Old French dilater, from Latin dīlātō (“to spread out”), from dī- + lātus (“wide”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of dilatate.
To delay, defer.
To prolong, lengthen.
Where this word comes from
First attested in 1399, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English dilaten (“to delay, tarry”), borrowed from Latin dīlātus, perfect passive participle of Latin dīfferō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)). If so, Doublet of defer and differ; see also infer, relate and refer, collate and confer, delate and defer, as well as prefer and prelate among others. Alternatively, from Latin dīlātō, see Etymology 1.
Carried in different ways, spread, abroad, dispersed, published.
Where this word comes from
First attested in 1471, in Middle English; borrowed from Latin dīlātus, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 2 for more.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.