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What is the difference between wide and narrow?

wide | narrow | Antonyms |

Narrow is a antonym of wide.



As adjectives the difference between wide and narrow

is that wide is having a large physical extent from side to side while narrow is having a small width; not wide; slim; slender; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.

As nouns the difference between wide and narrow

is that wide is a ball that passes so far from the batsman that the umpire deems it unplayable; the arm signal used by an umpire to signal a wide; the extra run added to the batting side's score while narrow is a narrow passage, especially a contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea; a strait connecting two bodies of water.

As an adverb wide

is extensively.

As a verb narrow is

to reduce in width or extent; to contract.

wide

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Having a large physical extent from side to side.
  • Large in scope.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Fenella Saunders
  • , title= Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.}}
  • (sports) Operating at the side of the playing area.
  • On one side or the other of the mark; too far sideways from the mark, the wicket, the batsman, etc.
  • * Spenser
  • Surely he shoots wide on the bow hand.
  • * Massinger
  • I was but two bows wide .
  • (phonetics, dated) Made, as a vowel, with a less tense, and more open and relaxed, condition of the organs in the mouth.
  • Remote; distant; far.
  • * Hammond
  • the contrary being so wide from the truth of Scripture and the attributes of God
  • (obsolete) Far from truth, propriety, necessity, etc.
  • * Milton
  • our wide expositors
  • * Latimer
  • It is far wide that the people have such judgments.
  • * Herbert
  • How wide is all this long pretence!
  • (computing) Of or supporting a greater range of text characters than can fit into the traditional representation.
  • a wide''' character; a '''wide stream

    Antonyms

    * narrow (regarding empty area) * thin (regarding occupied area) * skinny (sometimes offensive, regarding body width)

    Adverb

    (er)
  • extensively
  • He travelled far and wide .
  • completely
  • He was wide awake.
  • away from a given goal
  • The arrow fell wide of the mark.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2010 , date=December 29 , author=Sam Sheringham , title=Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=The Reds carved the first opening of the second period as Glen Johnson's pull-back found David Ngog but the Frenchman hooked wide from six yards.}}
  • So as to leave or have a great space between the sides; so as to form a large opening.
  • (Shakespeare)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (cricket) A ball that passes so far from the batsman that the umpire deems it unplayable; the arm signal used by an umpire to signal a wide; the extra run added to the batting side's score
  • 1000 English basic words ----

    narrow

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Having a small width; not wide; slim; slender; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=14 citation , passage=Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Catherine Clabby
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Focus on Everything , passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field. A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that.}}
  • Of little extent; very limited; circumscribed.
  • * Bishop Wilkins
  • The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a narrow compass in the world.
  • (figuratively) Restrictive; without flexibility or latitude.
  • Contracted; of limited scope; illiberal; bigoted.
  • a narrow''' mind; '''narrow views
  • * Macaulay
  • a narrow understanding
  • Having a small margin or degree.
  • The Republicans won by a narrow majority.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 18, author=Ben Dirs
  • , title=Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia, work=BBC Sport citation , passage=As in their narrow defeat of Argentina last week, England were indisciplined at the breakdown, and if Georgian fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili had remembered his kicking boots, Johnson's side might have been behind at half-time.}}
  • (dated) Limited as to means; straitened; pinching.
  • narrow circumstances
  • Parsimonious; niggardly; covetous; selfish.
  • * Smalridge
  • a very narrow and stinted charity
  • Scrutinizing in detail; close; accurate; exact.
  • * Milton
  • But first with narrow search I must walk round / This garden, and no corner leave unspied.
  • (phonetics) Formed (as a vowel) by a close position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate; or (according to Bell) by a tense condition of the pharynx; distinguished from wide.
  • Antonyms

    * wide * broad

    Derived terms

    * narrowboat, narrow boat * narrow-minded * narrowness

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To reduce in width or extent; to contract.
  • We need to narrow the search.
  • To get narrower.
  • The road narrows .
  • (knitting) To contract the size of, as a stocking, by taking two stitches into one.
  • Synonyms
    * taper

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (chiefly, in the plural) A narrow passage, especially a contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea; a strait connecting two bodies of water.
  • the Narrows of New York harbor
  • * Gladstone
  • Near the island lay on one side the jaws of a dangerous narrow .
    1000 English basic words