wide
Adjective · AdverbOpen English WordNet
Adjective (7)wider, widest
- having great (or a certain) extent from one side to the other“wide roads”“a wide necktie”“wide margins”“three feet wide”“a river two miles broad”“broad shoulders”“a broad river”Synonyms: broadSimilar sweeping, bird's-eye, wide-screen, deep, fanlike, beamy, broad-brimmedRelates to width, breadthSee also comprehensive, thick
- 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 — T.G.Winner”“granted him wide powers”Synonyms: across-the-boardall-embracingall-encompassingall-inclusiveblanketbroadencompassingextensivepanopticOpposite incomprehensiveSimilar comprehensive
- (used of eyes) fully open or extended“stared with wide eyes”Synonyms: wide-eyedOpposite closedSimilar open, opened
- very large in expanse or scope“a broad lawn”“the wide plains”“a spacious view”“spacious skies”Synonyms: broadspaciousOpposite small, littleSimilar large, big
- great in degree“won by a wide margin”Opposite narrowSimilar comfortable
- having ample fabric“the current taste for wide trousers”“a full skirt”Synonyms: wide-cutfullOpposite meagerSimilar ample
- not on target“the kick was wide”“the arrow was wide of the mark”“a claim that was wide of the truth”Synonyms: wide of the mark
Adverb (4)
- with or by a broad space“stand with legs wide apart”“ran wide around left end”
- to the fullest extent possible“open your eyes wide”“with the throttle wide open”
- far from the intended target“the arrow went wide of the mark”“a bullet went astray and killed a bystander”Synonyms: astray
- to or over a great extent or range; far“wandered wide through many lands”“he traveled widely”“her work is widely known”Synonyms: widely
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Adjective broad, extending far from side to side
- Spanish
- ancho
- French
- large
- German
- breit
- Italian
- largo
- Portuguese
- largo
- Turkish
- geniş
- Russian
- широ́кий širókij
- Arabic
- عَرِيض ʕarīḍ
- Chinese
- 宽 kuān
- Japanese
- 広い hiroi
36 more languages
- Dutch
- breed
- Polish
- szeroki
- Swedish
- bred
- Greek
- φαρδύς fardýs
- Korean
- 넓다 neolda
- Indonesian
- lebar
- Vietnamese
- rộng
- Hungarian
- széles
- Portuguese (PT)
- largo
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 寬 kuān
- Albanian
- i gjerë
- Breton
- ledan
- Catalan
- ample
- Corsican
- largu
- Czech
- široký
- Danish
- bred
- Esperanto
- larĝa
- Estonian
- lai
- Finnish
- leveä
- Georgian
- ფართო parto
- Hebrew
- רָחָב rakháv
- Icelandic
- breiður
- Kurdish
- berfire
- Latvian
- plats
- Lithuanian
- platus
- Malagasy
- malalaka
- Norwegian
- bred
- Romanian
- larg
- Scottish Gaelic
- leathann
- Serbo-Croatian
- širok
- Slovak
- široký
- Slovenian
- širok
- Swahili
- pana
- Walloon
- lådje
- Welsh
- llydan
- Yiddish
- ברייט breyt
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. wid, wyde, AS. wīd; akin to OFries. & OS. wīd, D. wijd, G. weit, OHG. wīt, Icel. vīðr, Sw. & Dan. vid; of uncertain origin.
1. Having considerable distance or extent between the sides; spacious across; much extended in a direction at right angles to that of length; not narrow; broad; as, wide cloth; a wide table; a wide highway; a wide bed; a wide hall or entry.
The chambers and the stables weren wyde.— Geoffrey Chaucer
Wide is the gate... that leadeth to destruction.— Matt. vii. 18.
2. Having a great extent every way; extended; spacious; broad; vast; extensive; as, a wide plain; the wide ocean; a wide difference. “This wyde world.” Geoffrey Chaucer
For sceptered cynics earth were far too wide a den.— George Noel Gordon, Ld. Byron
When the wide bloom, on earth that lies, Seems of a brighter world than ours.— William Cullen Bryant
3. Of large scope; comprehensive; liberal; broad; as, wide views; a wide understanding.
Men of strongest head and widest culture.— Matthew Arnold
4. Of a certain measure between the sides; measuring in a direction at right angles to that of length; as, a table three feet wide.
5. Remote; distant; far.
The contrary being so wide from the truth of Scripture and the attributes of God.— Henry Hammond
6. Far from truth, from propriety, from necessity, or the like. “Our wide expositors.” John Milton
It is far wide that the people have such judgments.— Hugh Latimer
How wide is all this long pretense !— George Herbert
7. On one side or the other of the mark; too far side-wise from the mark, the wicket, the batsman, etc.
Surely he shoots wide on the bow hand.— Edmund Spenser
I was but two bows wide.— Philip Massinger
8. Phon. Made, as a vowel, with a less tense, and more open and relaxed, condition of the mouth organs; — opposed to primary as used by Mr. Bell, and to narrow as used by Mr. Sweet. The effect, as explained by Mr. Bell, is due to the relaxation or tension of the pharynx; as explained by Mr. Sweet and others, it is due to the action of the tongue. The wide of ē (ēve) is ĭ (ĭll); of ā (āte) is ĕ (ĕnd), etc. See Guide to Pronunciation, § 13-15.
9. Stock Exchanges Having or showing a wide difference between the highest and lowest price, amount of supply, etc.; as, a wide opening; wide prices, where the prices bid and asked differ by several points.
☞ Wide is often prefixed to words, esp. to participles and participial adjectives, to form self-explaining compounds; as, wide-beaming, wide-branched, wide-chopped, wide-echoing, wide-extended, wide-mouthed, wide-spread, wide-spreading, and the like.
Far and wide. See under Far. — Wide gauge. See the Note under Cauge, 6.
Origin: As. wīde.
1. To a distance; far; widely; to a great distance or extent; as, his fame was spread wide.
[I] went wyde in this world, wonders to hear.— Vision of Piers Plowman
2. So as to leave or have a great space between the sides; so as to form a large opening. William Shakespeare
3. So as to be or strike far from, or on one side of, an object or purpose; aside; astray.
1. That which is wide; wide space; width; extent. “The waste wide of that abyss.” Alfred Tennyson
2. That which goes wide, or to one side of the mark.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: 1913 supplement