extendere

Extendere is a Latin verb meaning to extend, stretch, or spread. It is a third-conjugation verb whose principal parts are extendō, extendere, extendī, extentus, and it appears in literary and colloquial Latin to describe physical or figurative expansion.

Etymology and forms: The word is formed from ex- meaning out or forth, plus tendere, to stretch. This origin underlies many related English terms such as extend, extent, and extensible. As a typical Latin verb, it forms common derivatives and participates in regular and irregular constructions of the third conjugation; the present active participle is extendens, and the perfect passive participle is extentus. The infinitive extendere is used in dictionaries as the base form.

Usage in Latin: In classical texts, extendere is used both literally and metaphorically. It can describe extending a limb, a rope, a road, or a boundary, as well as extending time, power, influence, or jurisdiction. The verb is transitive, usually taking a direct object in the accusative for what is being stretched or broadened, and it can appear with additional phrases indicating scope, duration, or extent. Typical sentence patterns include extending something (extendere rem) or extending a period (tempus extendere).

Derivatives and influence: Extendere yields English words such as extend, extension, and extensible, and it informs technical terms in fields like anatomy and law when describing something that can be stretched or broadened.

See also: English derivatives such as extend, extension, and extensible; related Latin forms such as extendens and extentus.