expandexpand /ɪkˈspænd/ verb 
► expand AWL
► expand AWL to become larger, or make something larger: When you breathe in, your lungs expand. The rebels are fighting to expand the area that they control.
► stretch also stretch out to become bigger, longer, or looser, usually by pulling or pressing something: The shoes will stretch out a little bit once you start wearing them. She stretched the dough over the top of the apple pie.
► swell also swell up if a part of your body swells, it becomes larger and rounder than normal because of an injury: I fell and twisted my ankle and now it is starting to swell.
► enlarge to make a photograph, picture, or document bigger: I enlarged the map on my computer so that it covered the full screen.
► blow up (informal) blow up means the same as enlarge: That’s a great picture - you should blow it up and frame it. ➔ Blow up also means “to fill something with air or gas so that it becomes bigger”: Come and help me blow up the balloons for the party.
► magnify to make something look bigger than it really is by using a piece of equipment, for example a microscope or magnifying glass: The bug is actually too small to see, but in this picture we have magnified it.
ANTONYMS ➔ see get smaller ➔ see increase1, lengthen