verb
- Occupy a large, elongated area.
- usage: "The park stretched beneath the train line"
- synonyms: stretch, stretch along
- Extend one's limbs or muscles, or the entire body.
- usage: "Stretch your legs"; "Extend your right arm above your head"
- Extend or stretch out to a greater or the full length.
- usage: "Unfold the newspaper"; "stretch out that piece of cloth"; "extend the TV antenna"
- synonyms: unfold, stretch, stretch out, extend
- Become longer by being stretched and pulled.
- usage: "The fabric stretches"
- synonyms: stretch
- Make long or longer by pulling and stretching.
- usage: "stretch the fabric"
- Lie down comfortably.
- usage: "To enjoy the picnic, we stretched out on the grass"
- synonyms: stretch, stretch out
- Pull in opposite directions.
- usage: "During the Inquisition, the torturers would stretch their victims on a rack"
- synonyms: stretch
- Extend the scope or meaning of; often unduly.
- usage: "Stretch the limits"; "stretch my patience"; "stretch the imagination"
- synonyms: stretch
- Corrupt, debase, or make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients with inferior ones.
- usage: "adulterate liquor"
- synonyms: load, adulterate, stretch, dilute, debase
- Increase in quantity or bulk by adding a cheaper substance.
- usage: "stretch the soup by adding some more cream"; "extend the casserole with a little rice"
- Extend one's body or limbs.
- usage: "Let's stretch for a minute-we've been sitting here for over 3 hours"
- synonyms: stretch, stretch out
adjective
- Of muscles. ( relieved of stiffness by stretching)
- usage: "well-stretched muscles are less susceptible to injury"
- Extended or spread over a wide area or distance.
- usage: "broad fields lay stretched on both sides of us"
WordNet 3.0 © 2006 by Princeton University
| APA | WordNet. (2010). stretched. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/stretched/definitions/1184537 |
| Chicago | WordNet. 2010. "stretched" http://smartdefine.org/stretched/definitions/1184537 (accessed September 20, 2026). |
| Harvard | WordNet 2010, stretched, Smart Define, viewed 20 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/stretched/definitions/1184537>. |
| MLA | WordNet. "stretched" 23 October 2010. Web. 20 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/stretched/definitions/1184537> |