Meaning & use
man spreading
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountableinformaldisapproving
The habit of some men of sitting with their legs wide apart in a public place, so that they take up more than one seat's space.
Grammar: Uncountable and has no plural: man spreading annoys people.
Patterns
- man spreading on something
- a campaign against man spreading
Man spreading on the morning train drives me crazy.
The city put up signs asking passengers to stop man spreading.
He apologized for man spreading and closed his knees.
Common combinations
- stop man spreading
- The poster asked commuters to stop man spreading.
- man spreading on the train
- Man spreading on the train left little room for others.
- a campaign against man spreading
- The transit company launched a campaign against man spreading.
- accused of man spreading
- He was accused of man spreading on the subway.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sprawling
- Sprawling describes anyone stretching out carelessly, while man spreading is specifically about men sitting with legs apart in shared spaces.
- hogging space
- Hogging space is broader, because it can describe taking up room in any way and is not linked to sitting posture.
- slouching
- Slouching is about bad posture and does not suggest taking space from other people.
Word family
- manspread verb
- to sit with the legs wide apart in a public place
- manspreader noun
- a man who does this
Practice
A passenger sits with his knees far apart and takes two seats on a full bus. Others might call this behavior what?
Choose one answer.
Man spreading is the term for a man sitting with legs wide apart and taking up extra space. The other options do not describe this behavior.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “man spreading”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.