dilation

English

Etymology

From dilate +‎ -ion, late 16th c.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /daɪˈleɪʃən/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

dilation (countable and uncountable, plural dilations)

1. The act of dilating.
2. State of being dilated; expansion; dilatation.

   Synonyms: expansion, dilatation

3. (obsolete) Delay.

   Synonyms: cunctation, hold-up; see also Thesaurus:delay

   • 1612–1626, [Joseph Hall], “(please specify the page)”, in [Contemplations vpon the Principall Passages of the Holy Storie], volumes (please specify |volume=II, V, or VI), London, →OCLC:

     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

4. (mathematics) In morphology, a basic operation (denoted ⊕) that usually uses a structuring element for probing and expanding the shapes contained in the input image.

Derived terms

• dilation and curettage
• dilation and extraction
• intact dilation and evacuation
• intact dilation and extraction
• time dilation

 

Translations

act of dilating — see also dilatation

• Catalan: dilatació f
• French: dilatation (fr) f
• Hungarian: tágítás (hu), kitágítás (hu)
• Irish: leathadh m
• Portuguese: dilatação (pt) f
• Russian: дилатация (ru) (dilatacija)
• Spanish: dilatación (es) f
• Turkish: dilatasyon (tr)

state of being dilated — see also dilatation

• Hungarian: (process) tágulás (hu), kitágulás (hu), (result) tágulat (hu)
• Irish: leathadh m
• Portuguese: dilatação (pt) f

delay — see delay

Anagrams

• dial into, dilatino, laid into

French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

dilation f (plural dilations)

1. dilation

Further reading

• “dilation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dīlātiō.

Noun

dilation oblique singular, f (oblique plural dilations, nominative singular dilation, nominative plural dilations)

1. dissemination; spreading (of rumors, stories, etc.)