Origin: Latin suffix -ive
Extensive has 4 different meanings across 1 category:
broad in scope or content
"across-the-board pay increases"
"an all-embracing definition"
"blanket sanctions against human-rights violators"
"an invention with broad applications"
"a panoptic study of Soviet nationality"
"granted him wide powers"
of agriculture; increasing productivity by using large areas with minimal outlay and labor
"producing wheat under extensive conditions"
"agriculture of the extensive type"
having a great extent; covering a large area; vast
"The extensive damage to the forest after the storm made it clear that no part of the valley was safe."
In plain English: Extensive means covering a very large amount or area.
"The hotel offers extensive grounds with beautiful gardens and walking paths."
Usage: Use extensive to describe something that covers a wide area or involves a large amount of detail, such as an extensive network or extensive research. Do not confuse it with expensive, as the word refers strictly to scope and magnitude rather than cost.
The word extensive entered English in the late Middle Ages via Late Latin extensīvus. It originally described something that had been stretched out or extended.