fan out
fan out — phrasal verb
- fan outbase form
- fans out3rd person singular
- fanning out-ing form
- fanned outpast simple
1. when people or things that were together move away from each other and go in dif
when people or things that were together move away from each other and go in different directions across a space; also used when someone spreads objects out so they lie flat or cover a wider area
At dawn, the search party fanned out across the forest.
intransitive: search party + fanned out across [area]
The children fanned out across the playground as soon as the bell rang.
The librarian fanned the old maps out on the long wooden table.
Firefighters fanned out through the building, checking each room for smoke.
A group of tourists fanned out along the beach to take photos.
- spread out
more general and common; can be used for both physical and abstract spreading
- scatter
suggests less control and more randomness; often implies people or things go in many directions without a plan
- disperse
more formal; often describes a crowd breaking up or moving away
文法句型
fan out + across/through/over/along + [area]
fan + object + out (e.g. fan the papers out)
用法筆記
Commonly used with group subjects (police, firefighters, search teams, crowds). The transitive form often involves flat objects such as papers, maps, or playing cards. Short objects usually come between 'fan' and 'out' (fan the cards out); longer noun phrases follow the particle (fan out the documents across the desk). This phrasal verb is always physical — it is not used for abstract spreading (e.g. of ideas or influence).