How to Use expanse in a Sentence

expanse

noun
  • The explorer gazed across the vast Arctic expanse.
  • It is backed by grassy sand dunes and has a wide expanse of sand.
    — Angelina Villa-Clarke, Forbes, 21 June 2021
  • And like any mani, there’s all to play for on the expanse of your nails.
    — Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 29 May 2026
  • The whole idea of landscapes opened up an expanse of ideas.
    — Marcia Luttrell, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Around them is a vast monochrome expanse as far as the eye can see.
    — Daniel Estrin, NPR, 7 Nov. 2025
  • And that expanse of blue — blue sky, blue water — soothes the brain.
    — Kate Cohen, Washington Post, 22 July 2024
  • The expanse of the pool makes up the view from the rest of the kitchen and dining area.
    — Caron Golden, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Nov. 2023
  • The stone, a little white-hot comet, flew in a tight, mean line across the expanse.
    — Chang-Rae Lee, New Yorker, 3 May 2026
  • The main kitchen looks out over the deck and pool and beyond, to the vast expanse of sea and sky.
    — David Sokol, ELLE Decor, 6 Oct. 2022
  • Hike, bike, or drive through the expanse of stunning fall foliage.
    — Evie Carrick, Travel + Leisure, 26 Sep. 2025
  • Being in the midst of one of the great, dry expanses of the world has me in a mood.
    — Oliver Munday, The Atlantic, 28 Aug. 2023
  • That’s hard enough in the dry expanse of the desert, and harder still as the landscape warms.
    — Lauren Markham, Wired, 9 Oct. 2021
  • The piece as a whole feels like a kind of ark or boat that travels through your mind in its own expanse of blue.
    — Hilton Als, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2023
  • The sheer expanse of places to see in Japan is astounding.
    — Kristin Braswell, AFAR Media, 7 Oct. 2025
  • One is just a broad expanse of spatial coverage of this event.
    — Thomas Peipert, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2026
  • Almost silent, the chime rings like a tiny triangle off in the expanse.
    — Anne Lamott, Washington Post, 1 Aug. 2024
  • Old-timers have stopped over the last two days to sit and lay in the wispy tall grass, in the expanse of its shadow.
    — Brendan Quinn, New York Times, 14 June 2025
  • The world’s continents are fringed by vast expanses of sand and mud.
    — David George Haskell, Big Think, 27 Mar. 2026
  • The city had shot up from a flat expanse of grasses and wild garlic plants nearly overnight.
    — Daniel Immerwahr, The New Republic, 1 Dec. 2020
  • This subtly adds dimension to what would have been a large expanse of flat, white space.
    — Monika Biegler Eyers, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Nov. 2025
  • Since then, the parcel has remained an empty green expanse.
    — Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 4 Sep. 2025
  • The expanse of a cookie, its crumbly craters and molten rivulets, is a playground for the pastry chef.
    — Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 4 Dec. 2025
  • Some might look at the curved expanses of the body and see a cosmic butterfly.
    — Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 June 2024
  • The best aspect of the space — its sprawling and plant-filled expanse under the open sun — has not changed.
    — John Metcalfe, The Mercury News, 20 June 2024
  • An expanse of landscaped wall shelters the site from the curb and adds a veil of privacy.
    — Lauren Beale, Forbes, 5 Oct. 2022
  • Beyond the iron bars, some ornamental trees and a small expanse of lawn could be seen.
    — Rachel Cusk, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2025
  • Now and then the mile-wide sparkling blue expanse of the Dardanelles came into view.
    — Joshua Hammer, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Feb. 2022
  • The grace and skill of the outfielders, sprinting and diving through that vast green expanse.
    — Lonnie G. Bunch Iii, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 Mar. 2022
  • And our national parks were still wild expanses barely fit for mules.
    — Jacqueline Kehoe, Travel + Leisure, 13 Apr. 2026
  • Bursts of green crop fields cling close to the water, but in the distance is an unbroken expanse of beige.
    — Leon McCarron, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Jan. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'expanse.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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