1 covering a large amount of space:
She opened her arms wide in an expansive gesture of welcome. * landscape with expansive skies * He waved an expansive arm (= in an expansive movement).
2 covering a large subject area, rather than trying to be exact and use few words:
We need to look at a more expansive definition of the term. * The piece is written in his usual expansive style.
3 friendly and willing to talk a lot:
She was clearly relaxed and in an expansive mood.
4 (especially of a period of time) encouraging economic EXPANSION:
In the expansive 1960s bright graduates could advance rapidly.
expansively adverb:
He waved his arms expansively.
expansiveness noun [U]
