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TOEFL SAT GRE
外刊例句
- The trend to distend seems odd at first.
膨胀的趋势一开始看起来很奇怪。
——《经济学人》 - You are left to hobble, if that; the flutter of a bedsheet over the distended foot is anguish enough, let alone the full weight of the body bearing down.
如果那样的话，你只能一瘸一拐地走；床单在肿胀的脚上飘动就已经够痛苦的了，更不用说承受身体的全部重量了。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[verb] swell or cause to swell by pressure from inside
[动词] 因内部压力而（使）膨胀
深入解读
Distend 是一个与熟词 tend, extend, attend, contend 以及小站（微信公众号：田间小站）在熟词僻义栏目中推送过的 tender 同词根 tend, tens, tent （伸展）单词，可以一并联想记忆。
从词源上来看， distend 源自拉丁语 distendere （膨胀、伸展、扩展），由前缀 dis- （分开、离、散）+词根 tend 构成，15世纪进入英语后即用来表示“（使）膨胀、肿胀、鼓起、隆起、扩张”，常作正式用语或医学术语使用，侧重指腹部或身体其他部位因内部压力而向外部各个方向膨胀，常意味着超出了正常的范围或者说显得不自然。比如：
- 扩张的血管
distended blood vessels - 膨胀的自我
distended ego - 那个散布流言蜚语的委琐小人步履蹒跚地走近，肚子鼓胀凸出。
The petty gossip waddled closer, his belly bulging and distended.
名著用例
As Scabior said it, Harry's scar, which was stretched tight across his distended forehead, burned savagely. More clearly than he could make out anything around him, he saw a towering building, a grim fortress, jet-black and forbidding; Voldemort's thoughts had suddenly become razor-sharp again; he was gliding toward the gigantic building with a sense of calmly euphoric purpose....
斯卡比奥说话时，哈利额头上肿胀而绷紧的伤疤猛烈地灼痛起来，眼前出现了一幅画面，比身边的任何东西都要清晰：那是一座乌黑的、令人生畏的高耸建筑，一座阴森的堡垒，伏地魔的思维又突然变得异常清晰：他正飘向那座巨型建筑，目标明确，内心平静而喜悦……
出自英国作家J·K·罗琳的奇幻小说《哈利·波特》系列的第七本《哈利·波特与死亡圣器》（Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows）。
同近义词
- swell: (especially of a part of the body) become larger or rounder in size, typically as a result of an accumulation of fluid
- bloat: make or become swollen with fluid or gas
- dilate: make or become wider, larger, or more open
