# extent

Pronunciation: say "ik-STENT" /ɪkˈstɛnt/

## Noun

1. The space, area, volume, or point that something reaches or extends to.
   - Simple: The whole area or distance that something covers or reaches.
   - _Surveyors mapped the full extent of the flooded region._
   - _The extent of the glacier has shrunk over the past century._
2. A range of values or locations covered by something.
   - Simple: The range that something covers, from the smallest to the largest.
   - _The report described the extent of incomes across the city._
   - _Researchers measured the extent of the species' habitat across several states._
3. A contiguous area of storage allocated as a single unit within a file system.
   - Simple: A piece of storage space that sits all in one block in a computer's file system.
   - _The database allocated a new extent each time the table grew._
   - _Defragmentation tools try to merge a file's scattered extents into fewer regions._
4. The official valuation placed on a piece of property.
   - Simple: The official value placed on someone's property.
   - _The officials completed an extent of the property before the debt was settled._
   - _A detailed extent of the lands accompanied the inheritance papers._
5. A writ directing the sheriff to seize a debtor's property in order to recover debts owed to the Crown.
   - Simple: An old legal order telling the sheriff to seize someone's property to pay a debt owed to the king.
   - _The court granted an extent to seize the debtor's estate._
   - _Under the extent, the sheriff took possession of the goods owed to the Crown._

## Adjective

6. Extended; stretched out over an area or distance. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Stretched out or spread across a wide area.

## Origin

It comes from Middle English "extente," via Anglo-Norman "extente" and Old French "estente" ("valuation of land, stretch of land"), from "estendre/extendre" ("extend") or from Latin "extentus," ultimately from Latin "extendere" ("to extend").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/extent (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).