Word: distend (verb)

Associations

"Distend" means to swell or expand because of pressure from inside. We often use it to describe something that is stretched out or swollen, like a balloon, a stomach after eating a lot, or a river that grows bigger after heavy rain.

Examples:

• The balloon distended as we blew air into it. (The balloon got bigger.)
• After the big meal, his stomach distended noticeably. (His stomach looked bigger.)
• The river distended during the flood season. (The river expanded.)

A similar word is "expand." The difference is that "distend" often suggests swelling due to pressure inside, while "expand" can mean growing bigger in many ways, not always because of pressure.

Substitution

Instead of "distend," you could say:

• swell (This also means to get bigger, often because of pressure.)
• expand (More general, means to get bigger.)
• bloat (Usually means to swell, often in a negative or uncomfortable way, like a bloated stomach.)

Each word changes the feeling a little. "Distend" is more formal and scientific, while "bloat" is more casual and often negative.

Deconstruction

"Distend" comes from Latin:

• Prefix "dis-" means "apart" or "away."
• Root "tend" comes from "tendere," meaning "to stretch." So "distend" literally means "to stretch apart" or "to stretch out."

Inquiry

• Can you think of a time when something in your body distended? How did it feel?
• What other things in nature might distend? Why?
• How is "distend" different from just "getting bigger"? When would you use one or the other?