widen
verb /ˈwaɪdn/
/ˈwaɪdn/
Word Family
- wide adjective adverb
- widely adverb
- widen verb
- width noun
Verb Forms
Idioms | present simple I / you / we / they widen | /ˈwaɪdn/ /ˈwaɪdn/ |
| he / she / it widens | /ˈwaɪdnz/ /ˈwaɪdnz/ |
| past simple widened | /ˈwaɪdnd/ /ˈwaɪdnd/ |
| past participle widened | /ˈwaɪdnd/ /ˈwaɪdnd/ |
| -ing form widening | /ˈwaɪdnɪŋ/ /ˈwaɪdnɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive, transitive] to become wider; to make something wider
- Her eyes widened in surprise.
- Jasmine's eyes widened with disbelief.
- widen into something Here the stream widens into a river.
- widen out The road gradually widens out.
- widen something They may have to widen the road to cope with the increase in traffic.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- considerably
- dramatically
- greatly
- …
- from
- into
- to
- …
- [intransitive, transitive] to become larger in degree or range; to make something larger in degree or range
- Another concern is the widening gap between rich and poor.
- widen something We plan to widen the scope of our existing activities by offering more language courses.
- The legislation will be widened to include all firearms.
Extra Examples- The gap between rich and poor has widened considerably.
- The trade deficit had widened from £26 billion to £30 billion.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- considerably
- dramatically
- greatly
- …
- from
- into
- to
- …
Idioms
widen the net
- to consider or include a larger range of options or possibilities, especially when searching for something
- It's time to widen the net in the search for a suitable candidate.