distend
/dɪˈstɛnd
/verb
Swell or cause to swell by pressure from inside: [no object]: the abdomen distended rapidly [with object]: air is introduced into the stomach to distend it...
- Additionally, there were a few children in the group with thin frames and distended bellies which I normally associate with malnutrition.
- Her head is swollen and her tiny stomach distended.
- She is now visibly pregnant, at least, with her clothes off, her belly distended with you and everything around her waist thickening.
Synonyms
swell, bloat, bulge, puff out/up, blow up/out, expand, dilate, inflate, enlarge
rare tumefy, intumesce
swollen, bloated, tumescent, dilated, engorged, enlarged, inflated, stretched, blown up, pumped up/out;
expanded, extended, ballooning, puffy, puffed up;
bulbous, bulging, protuberant, prominent, sticking out
technical turgescent, ventricose
rare tumid
Derivatives
distensibility
- Veins are particularly susceptible to gravitational stress due to their distensibility, and blood ‘pools' in dependent veins when we stand.
- The brachial and carotid arteries were tested for intima-media thickness and arterial distensibility.
- Isometric handgrip exercise seems to significantly reduce systolic blood pressure and carotid arterial distensibility.
distensible
/ adjective ...- These veins are very thin walled and distensible.
- Krachie and company are arguing, essentially, that a belly of fat is more compressive than skin and muscle are distensible.
- The thicker and less distensible the arteries are, the greater the load on the heart.
distension
/ noun ...- With muscular pain, the pain sensation may be due to distension or stretch of the muscular walls or to transient ischemia of the muscle.
- During the second stage, pain occurs from distension and stretching of pelvic structures and the perineum.
- Veins may become visible when the skin is stretched by generalized abdominal distension.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin distendere, from dis- 'apart' + tendere 'to stretch'.
This comes from Latin distendere, from dis- ‘apart’ and tendere ‘to stretch’.