Meaning & use
span
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Meanings
nouncountable
The length of time that something lasts or that someone can keep going.
Grammar: Often followed by of: a span of ten years.
Patterns
- a span of something
- over a span of something
Over a span of ten years, the town doubled in size.
Young children have a short attention span.
The average life span of a mayfly is only a day.
nouncountable
The distance between two supports, or from one end of something to the other, such as the part of a bridge between pillars.
Grammar: Used for structures and measurements: the span of the bridge.
Patterns
- the span of something
- a span between something
The bridge has a main span of nearly a mile.
An eagle's wing span can exceed two meters.
The builders added a column to shorten the roof span.
verbtransitive
To reach or extend across a distance, area or period of time.
Grammar: Takes an object: the bridge spans the river.
Patterns
- span something
- span from something to something
A stone bridge spans the river at the edge of town.
Her career spanned more than forty years.
The collection spans three centuries of design.
nouncountablearchaic
The width of an outstretched hand, used as an old unit of length of about nine inches.
Grammar: Archaic measure; rare today.
Patterns
- a span of something
Old tailors measured cloth by the span.
The fish was about a span long.
He marked the board a span from the end.
Word forms
| third person singular | spans |
|---|---|
| past tense | spanned |
| past participle | spanned |
| -ing form | spanning |
Common combinations
- attention span
- A toddler's attention span is short.
- life span
- Dogs have a shorter life span than humans.
- span a river
- The new bridge will span the river.
- span decades
- The study spans decades of research.
- wing span
- The albatross has an enormous wing span.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stretch
- Stretch as a noun is more casual for a period or distance, while span suggests a measured length from end to end.
- extend
- Extend is general and can mean enlarge, but span means to reach across a gap or time.
- cross
- Cross describes a person or thing going over, while span says a structure covers the gap.
- duration
- Duration is the formal word for how long something lasts, and unlike span it does not suit physical distance.
Word family
Commonly confused: span or spawn?
span vs spawn
Spawn means to produce eggs or give rise to something; span means to extend across something.
Practice
The suspension bridge ______ the wide bay and carries six lanes of traffic.
Choose one answer.
Spans means stretches across, which fits a bridge over water. Spawns, spaces and spares do not describe a bridge crossing a bay.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “span”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.