Describing Dimensions: English Vocabulary List

having an impressive height

"The mountain is towering."

"The towering skyscraper cast a long shadow over the small park where children played every afternoon after school and on weekends."

extremely tall or elevated

"The building is sky-high."

"The sky high prices of apartments in the city center made it impossible for young people to afford their own homes without help."

(of buildings or other objects) extremely tall or high

"The building is skycraping."

"The skycraping skyscrapers of the city formed a dramatic silhouette against the twilight sky, reaching towards the heavens."

made bigger in size

"The role is expanded."

"The expanded version of the textbook included three new chapters that covered recent developments in the field of genetic research and engineering."

extended in length as far as possible

"Arms were outstretched."

"The child ran towards his mother with outstretched arms, eager for a warm hug after a long day."

made longer in physical dimensions

"The dress is lengthened."

"The lengthened school day gave students more time for sports and extracurricular activities after finishing their regular academic classes every afternoon."

long and thin, often more than expected or typical

"The shadow was elongated."

"The elongated neck of the giraffe allows it to reach leaves high up in the trees, a unique adaptation for survival."

rather long

"His hair is longish."

"Her longish hair fell just below her shoulders and she often tied it back in a ponytail when she exercised."

excessively or unreasonably long in duration, size, or extent

"The movie is overlong."

"The overlong movie lasted nearly four hours and many people in the theater fell asleep during the boring second act."

to stretch something in order to make it longer

"Stretching can elongate your muscles."

"The artist used a special technique to elongate the figures in her paintings making them look tall and elegant."

made wider in physical dimensions

"His view is broadened."

"The river broadened considerably as it flowed towards the sea, its waters spreading out into a wide, majestic expanse."

positioned or built above ground level

"The platform is elevated."

"The elevated train tracks ran above the city streets and the noise of passing trains could be heard from blocks away."

extremely thin, as thin as a sheet of paper

"The walls are paper-thin."

"The paper thin walls of the apartment allowed her to hear every word of her neighbor's private phone conversations at night."

to cut something short in length or duration

"The editor will truncate the long article."

"The editor had to truncate the article to fit within the magazine's strict word limit leaving out some interesting details."

to become smaller in size, amount, or number over time

"The road will taper to one lane."

"The road begins to taper from two lanes to one as you approach the narrow bridge over the river."