Dilation
noun
noun ·3 syllables ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The act of dilating. countable, uncountable
- 2 the act of expanding an aperture wordnet
- 3 State of being dilated; expansion; dilatation. countable, uncountable
- 4 a lengthy discussion (spoken or written) on a particular topic wordnet
- 5 Delay. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"The wise queen, however she might seem to have a fair opportunity offered to her suit, finds it not good to apprehend it too suddenly; as desiring by this small dilation to prepare the ear and heart of the king for so important a request"
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- 6 In morphology, a basic operation (denoted ⊕) that usually uses a structuring element for probing and expanding the shapes contained in the input image. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"Due to injury to the cervix during dilation used in some abortions, your next baby may have a low birth weight or you may be more likely to have a spontaneous abortion in later pregnancies."
Etymology
From dilate + -ion, late 16th c.
Related phrases
More for "dilation"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.