Meaning

Tending toward maximizing the applicability or scope (of something).

Definitions by Sense

1. Tending toward maximizing the applicability or scope (of something)
2. One with an expansivist attitude toward or definition of something.

Example Sentences

The prevailing view, which corresponds to that of the expansivist school, considers "protection of one's own nationals" as part of the customary right of self-defense under article 51 and sees "self" in self-defense as including the nationals of a state.

This expansivist view is presidency-weighted, regarding the maximization of presidential power as virtually the sine qua non of American politics.

First, this expansivist view would make public health limitless in scope.

Charny's expansivist understanding of genocide even goes as far as claiming that massive deaths resulting from the meltdown of a nuclear reactor would count as genocide.

As for Mark and Matthew, they are speaking to exclusivist adherents to the Yahweh faith of Israel and arguing for an inclusivist, expansivist approach to that faith. It is in their interest to expand the narrower “for you” to a more inclusivist, expansivist “for many” and “for the forgiveness of sins.”

Tracing their twentieth century origins back to Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt, expansivists were energized by FDR's leadership.

Widely labelled a genocide by politicians, journalists, and some genocide studies scholars, the judgment of these expansivists is called into question because Kosovar Albanians were in the main expelled from Serbia rather than liquidated.

In the extreme, expansivists assert that we should stop talking of “discovering truth” altogether.

Word Forms

• more expansivist
• most expansivist
• expansivists

When Should You Use Expansivist?

Use expansivist when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

Practice This Word

Frequently Asked Questions