English

A male commuter engaging in manspreading

Noun

manspreading ‎(uncountable)

1. (informal, derogatory) The practice of men splaying their legs open wide when sitting on public transport, thus occupying more than one seat.
   • 2014 December 20, Emma G. Fitzsimmons, “A scourge is spreading. M.T.A.’s cure? Dude, close your legs”, in The New York Times:

     The new ads — aimed at curbing rude behavior like manspreading and wearing large backpacks on crowded trains — are set to go up in the subways next month.

   • 2015 January 10, Margaret Wente, “Advice to younger women: Practise manning up”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto:

     Manspreading is certainly bad manners in a crowded subway – and so is other stuff, like people wielding giant backpacks.

   • 2015 January 16, Natasha Devon, “The rise of stranger shaming: How humiliating others became acceptable”, in The Independent, London:

     Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram show thousands pictures of men engaging in this behaviour, and New York's transit authority launched a campaign against ‘manspreading’, with a Tumblr dedicated: Men Taking Up Too Much Space On The Train.

   • 2016, Kelly Starrett, Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World, page 190:

     Manspreading creates stability for your pelvis and lower back. You can either position your feet together and let your knees fall to the sides or spread your feet wide.

Quotations

• For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:manspreading.

Synonyms

• man-sitting

Translations