Library / English Dictionary

WIDEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become broader or wider or more extensive

Example:

The road widened

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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 wider

Example:

widen the road

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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 3

Meaning:

Make (clothes) larger

Example:

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

Synonyms:

let out; widen

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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 4

Meaning:

Extend in scope or range or area

Example:

Extend your backyard

Synonyms:

broaden; extend; widen

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

Credits

 Context examples: 

But one must not expect every thing; though I suppose it would be no difficult matter to widen them.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Others slow down the heartbeat or relax and widen blood vessels.

(Blood Pressure Medicines, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Your autonomic nervous system is the part of your nervous system that controls involuntary actions, such as the beating of your heart and the widening or narrowing of your blood vessels.

(Autonomic Nervous System Disorders, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

This widens the artery and restores blood flow.

(Angioplasty, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

An endovascular procedure used to widen diseased arteries resulting in increasing blood flow through the area.

(Angioplasty, NCI Thesaurus)

It widened the space between them.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The widening of the chambers of the heart between two contractions when the chambers fill with blood.

(Diastole, NCI Thesaurus)

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

(Carvedilol phosphate, NCI Dictionary)

For a short three feet she was compelled to crouch, then the walls widened and rose higher in a little round chamber nearly six feet in diameter.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The DCLG will also help NCI to widen the pool of qualified consumer-advocates who can be called upon to serve on NCI advisory committees and other groups.

(NCI Director's Consumer Liaison Group, NCI Thesaurus)