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distend

/dɪˈstend//dɪˈstend/·verb
Animated scene
Fig. 1 — A riveted iron boiler, its pressure gauge creeping up out of the green.
01Definition

To distend is to swell outward from pressure within — the formal, often medical word for it. A stomach distends with gas, a vein distends with blood, a membrane distends until it is taut. From Latin dis- 'apart' and tendere 'to stretch' (the root behind extend and tension), it names a stretching-apart from the inside, with no air added from outside. Its noun is spelled distension in British usage and distention in American. It is a precise, clinical word — sharper and less casual than swell or bloat.

02In use
  • iTrapped gas can distend the stomach until it feels tight and painful.
  • iiThe sealed balloon distended as the pressure inside it rose.
  • iiiThe vein distended as the tourniquet forced blood to pool beneath the skin.
03Collocations
  • a distended abdomen
  • distend with gas
  • a distended vein
  • become distended
  • distend under pressure

Family distension (noun) · distention (noun) · distended (adjective)

04Relations

=swell, bloat, inflate, expand, balloon

≠shrink, contract, deflate

06TOEFL & IELTS

Distend is a precise, formal or scientific verb — a stomach distends with gas, a vessel distends with pressure. Reserve it for swelling caused by pressure from within, in clinical or technical writing; for everyday or figurative fullness, bloat or swell fit better. Watch the noun spelling: distension (British) or distention (American). It takes both a subject that swells (the abdomen distends) and an agent (gas distends the abdomen).

07Asked
What does 'distended' mean?
Swollen or stretched outward by pressure from within — a distended stomach is one stretched tight with gas or fluid. It is the adjective form of distend, common in medical and formal writing, and it stresses that the swelling comes from inside, not from an injury or a blow.
Distension or distention — which spelling is correct?
Both are correct; it is a regional split. Distension is the traditional and chiefly British spelling; distention is common in American usage, especially in medicine. They mean exactly the same thing — the state of being distended. Choose one and stay consistent within a piece of writing.
How do you pronounce distend?
It is dis-TEND — /dɪˈstend/ — with the stress on the second syllable, which rhymes with 'bend'. The related forms follow the same stress: distended is dis-TEN-did, and distension or distention is dis-TEN-shun. The first syllable is a light 'dis', never 'die'.
What is the difference between distended and bloated or swollen?
All three mean enlarged, but distended is the precise, clinical one — stretched by internal pressure. Swollen is the general word, from injury, fluid or anything at all; bloated is casual and negative, meaning uncomfortably over-full. A doctor writes 'distended'; a friend says 'bloated'.
Is distend a formal or medical word?
Yes — it is formal and strongly tied to medicine and science, used of organs, vessels and membranes. In everyday speech people say 'swell up' or 'bloat' instead. In academic writing its precision is the whole point: it names swelling caused specifically by pressure from within.
Where does the word distend come from?
From Latin dis- 'apart' and tendere 'to stretch' — literally 'to stretch apart'. The same tendere gives extend, tension and tendon. The scene above shows that root at work: a boiler wall stretched apart from within, drum-taut, by the pressure rising inside it.