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Widening vs Wide - What's the difference?

widening | wide |

As adjectives the difference between widening and wide

is that widening is of things that are growing wider while wide is having a large physical extent from side to side.

As nouns the difference between widening and wide

is that widening is the action of the verb widen while wide is (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.

As a verb widening

is .

As an adverb wide is

extensively.

widening

English

Adjective

(-)
  • Of things that are growing wider.
  • Of things that are separate, with increasing separation.
    • The widening gap between rich and poor creates social problems.

    Quotations

    * 1920 — *: Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The action of the verb widen.
  • * 1887 — , Olalla
    • She looked up sleepily and asked me what it was, and with the very words I thought she drew in her breath with a widening of the nostrils and seemed to come suddenly and fully alive.

    Verb

    (head)

    • 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)

    Related terms

    * widely * widen * wideness * widescale * width * wide awake * wide of the mark * wide open * wide receiver * wide shot * wide-angle * wide-eyed * widescreen * widespread * worldwide

    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 ----