WIDEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does widen mean? 

• WIDEN (verb)
  The verb WIDEN has 4 senses:

1. become broader or wider or more extensive

2. make (clothes) larger

3. make wider

4. extend in scope or range or area

  Familiarity information: WIDEN used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WIDEN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they widen    ... he / she / it widens   
Past simple: widened   
Past participle: widened   
-ing form: widening   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become broader or wider or more extensive

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The road widened

Hypernyms (to "widen" is one way to...):

increase (become bigger or greater in amount)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "widen"):

flare; flare out (become flared and widen, usually at one end)

dilate; distend (become wider)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Antonym:

narrow (make or become more narrow or restricted)

Derivation:

widening (an increase in width)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make (clothes) larger

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

let out; widen

Context example:

Let out that dress--I gained a lot of weight

Hypernyms (to "widen" is one way to...):

alter; change; vary (become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make wider

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

widen the road

Hypernyms (to "widen" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Cause:

widen (become broader or wider or more extensive)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "widen"):

white out (widen the interlinear spacing by inserting leads)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

widening (the act of making something wider)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Extend in scope or range or area

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

broaden; extend; widen

Context example:

Extend your backyard

Hypernyms (to "widen" is one way to...):

increase (make bigger or more)

Verb group:

expand; extend (expand the influence of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "widen"):

broaden (make broader)

territorialise; territorialize (extend by adding territory)

globalise; globalize (make world-wide in scope or application)

stretch (extend the scope or meaning of; often unduly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

The gulf between me and Miss Shepherd widens.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Disopyramide prolongs the QT interval and causes a widening of the QRS complex.

(Disopyramide Phosphate, NCI Thesaurus)

In medicine, a substance used as a drug to treat certain heart conditions and to widen the openings in blood vessels.

(Nitroglycerin, NCI Dictionary)

Localized widening of the lumen of the mammary ducts.

(Focal Mammary Duct Ectasia, NCI Thesaurus)

This tropical widening process is slow, however, expanding only 0.5 to 1 degree in latitude every 10 years.

(Greenhouse Gas ‘Detergent’ Recycles Itself in Atmosphere, NASA)

To widen or enlarge an opening or hollow structure beyond its usual size, such as the pupil of the eye or a blood vessel.

(Dilate, NCI Dictionary)

Coreg blocks certain receptors on nerve cells and causes blood vessels to dilate (widen).

(Carvedilol, NCI Dictionary)

The period of greatest risk to orbiting spacecraft will start about 90 minutes later and last about 20 minutes, when Mars will come closest to the center of the widening dust trail from the nucleus.

(Mars spacecraft prepare for close comet flyby, NASA)

An electrocardiographic finding of a widened QRS duration typically greater than 110 ms which does not meet the morphologic criteria for any of the standard bundle branch or fascicular block patterns.

(Nonspecific Intraventricular Conduction Delay by ECG Finding, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Over time, material hurled out by the jet slows and widens as it sweeps up and heats interstellar material, producing so-called afterglow emission that includes X-rays.

(NASA Missions Catch First Light from a Gravitational-Wave Event, NASA)