extent

ex·tent
E1X8T1E1N1T1
/ɪkˈstɛnt/

noun

A range of values or locations.

“I'm a thoroughgoing pragmatist to the fullest extent of the word.”

CommonScrabble 13

Meanings

nounextent (plural extents)

plural extents

  1. A range of values or locations.
  2. The space, area, volume, point, or abstract location, to which something extends.

    I'm a thoroughgoing pragmatist to the fullest extent of the word.

    4 more examples

    The extent of his knowledge of the language is a few scattered words.

    But when they came where that dead Dragon lay, / Stretcht on the ground in monstrous large extent

    1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

    The surface of the Balaton and the surrounding marshes is not less than 24 German square miles, or 384 English square miles; its principal feeder is the Szala, but all the water it receives appears inconsiderable relatively to its superficial extent, and the quantity lost in evaporation.

    1827, Conrad Malte-Brun, Universal Geography, or A Description of All the Parts of the World, on a New Plan, Edinburgh: Adam Black, volume 6, book 101, 285

    [S]he [Edwina, mother of Tennessee Williams] was indeed Amanda [Wingfield, character in Williams' play The Glass Menagerie] in the flesh: a doughty chatterbox from Ohio who adopted the manner of a Southern belle and eschewed both drink and sex to the greatest extent possible.

    2014 November 14, Blake Bailey, “'Tennessee Williams,' by John Lahr [print version: Theatrical victory of art over life, International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 13]”, in The New York Times
  3. computingA contiguous area of storage in a file system.

    Each extent contains one or more contiguous clusters. The file system describes each extent with two numbers: the number of the first cluster in the extent, and the number of clusters in the extent.

    2019, Richard E. Smith, Elementary Information Security, page 205
  4. lawA writ directing the sheriff to seize the property of a debtor, for the recovery of debts of record due to the Crown.

    Well, push him out of doors; And let my officers of such a nature Make an extent upon his house and lands. Do this expediently, and turn him going.

    c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], lines 1117-20
adjective
  1. obsoleteExtended.

    But both his Hands, most filthy feculent, Above the Water were on high extent,

    1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Latinextendere
  2. Old Frenchestente“valuation of land, stretch of land”
  3. Anglo-Normanextente
  4. Middle Englishextente
  5. Englishextent

From Middle English extente, from Anglo-Norman extente and Old French estente (“valuation of land, stretch of land”), from estendre, extendre (“extend”) (or from Latin extentus), from Latin extendere (See extend.)

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic اِتِّسَاع, مَدَّى
  • اِتِّسَاع (ittisāʕ)space, area, volume to which something extends
  • مَدَّى (maddā)space, area, volume to which something extends
Bulgarian обхват, размер
  • обхват (obhvat)range of values or locations
  • размер (razmer)space, area, volume to which something extends
  • протежение (proteženie)space, area, volume to which something extends
Chinese Mandarin 範圍 /范围, 程度
  • 範圍 /范围 (fànwéi)range of values or locations
  • 程度 (chéngdu)space, area, volume to which something extends
Czech rozsah, rozměr
  • rozsahrange of values or locations
  • rozměrspace, area, volume to which something extends
Danish omfang, udstrækning
  • omfangrange of values or locations
  • udstrækningrange of values or locations
Dutch bereik, mate
  • bereikrange of values or locations
  • materange of values or locations
Esperanto amplekso
  • ampleksospace, area, volume to which something extends
Finnish lukualue, alue
  • lukualuerange of values or locations
  • aluerange of values or locations
  • laajuusspace, area, volume to which something extends
  • määräspace, area, volume to which something extends
  • jakso(computing) individual area of storage
  • tilavaraus(computing) individual area of storage
French mesure
  • mesurespace, area, volume to which something extends
German Umfang, Ausdehnung
  • Umfangrange of values or locations
  • Ausdehnungrange of values or locations
  • Umfangspace, area, volume to which something extends
  • Ausmaßspace, area, volume to which something extends
  • Größespace, area, volume to which something extends
  • Gradspace, area, volume to which something extends
Greek έκταση
  • έκταση (éktasi)space, area, volume to which something extends
Hebrew מידה
  • מידהrange of values or locations
Hindi विस्तार
  • विस्तार (vistār)space, area, volume to which something extends
Italian estensione, misura
  • estensionerange of values or locations
  • misuraspace, area, volume to which something extends
Japanese 程度
  • 程度 (teido)space, area, volume to which something extends
Lithuanian apimtis
  • apimtisspace, area, volume to which something extends
Māori korahi, mokorahi
  • korahirange of values or locations
  • mokorahispace, area, volume to which something extends
  • nukuspace, area, volume to which something extends
  • korahispace, area, volume to which something extends
Polish stopień
  • stopieńspace, area, volume to which something extends
Portuguese extensão, extensão
  • extensãorange of values or locations
  • extensãospace, area, volume to which something extends
Romanian mărime, întindere
  • mărimerange of values or locations
  • întindererange of values or locations
  • întinderespace, area, volume to which something extends
  • volumspace, area, volume to which something extends
Russian сте́пень, объём
  • сте́пень (stépenʹ)space, area, volume to which something extends
  • объём (obʺjóm)space, area, volume to which something extends
  • разме́р (razmér)space, area, volume to which something extends
  • ме́ра (méra)space, area, volume to which something extends
Scottish Gaelic farsaingeachd, farsaingeachd
  • farsaingeachdrange of values or locations
  • farsaingeachdspace, area, volume to which something extends
Spanish extensión
  • extensiónspace, area, volume to which something extends
Thai ขอบข่าย, ขนาด
  • ขอบข่ายspace, area, volume to which something extends
  • ขนาด (kà-nàat)space, area, volume to which something extends
Ukrainian сту́пінь, ро́змір
  • сту́пінь (stúpinʹ)space, area, volume to which something extends
  • ро́змір (rózmir)space, area, volume to which something extends
  • величи́на (velyčýna)space, area, volume to which something extends
  • мі́ра (míra)space, area, volume to which something extends

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with extent

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

extent. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/extent

MLA

“extent.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/extent. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “extent,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/extent.

Source: extent on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.