WIDE

wide, wide of the mark

(adjective) not on target; “the kick was wide”; “the arrow was wide of the mark”; “a claim that was wide of the truth”

wide, wide-cut, full

(adjective) having ample fabric; “the current taste for wide trousers”; “a full skirt”

blanket, all-embracing, all-encompassing, all-inclusive, across-the-board, broad, encompassing, extensive, panoptic, wide

(adjective) 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”

broad, spacious, wide

(adjective) very large in expanse or scope; “a broad lawn”; “the wide plains”; “a spacious view”; “spacious skies”

wide, wide-eyed

(adjective) (used of eyes) fully open or extended; “stared with wide eyes”

wide, broad

(adjective) 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”

wide

(adjective) great in degree; “won by a wide margin”

wide, widely

(adverb) to or over a great extent or range; far; “wandered wide through many lands”; “he traveled widely”

wide

(adverb) with or by a broad space; “stand with legs wide apart”; “ran wide around left end”

wide, astray

(adverb) far from the intended target; “the arrow went wide of the mark”; “a bullet went astray and killed a bystander”

wide

(adverb) to the fullest extent possible; “open your eyes wide”; “with the throttle wide open”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

wide (comparative wider, superlative widest)

Having a large physical extent from side to side.

Large in scope.

(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.

(phonetics, dated) Made, as a vowel, with a less tense, and more open and relaxed, condition of the organs in the mouth.

(Scotland, Northern England, now rare) Vast, great in extent, extensive.

(obsolete) Located some distance away; distant, far. [15th–19th c.]

(obsolete) Far from truth, propriety, necessity, etc.

(computing) Of or supporting a greater range of text characters than can fit into the traditional 8-bit representation.

Antonyms

• narrow (regarding empty area)

• thin (regarding occupied area)

• skinny (sometimes offensive, regarding body width)

Hyponyms

• Africa-wide

• America-wide

• Asia-wide

• EU-wide

• Europe-wide

• kilometre-wide

• km-wide

• metre-wide

• m-wide

• nation-wide

• region-wide

• site-wide

• space-wide

• system-wide

• US-wide

• worldwide

Adverb

wide (comparative wider, superlative widest)

extensively

completely

away from a given goal

So as to leave or have a great space between the sides; so as to form a large opening.

Noun

wide (plural wides)

(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

Source: Wiktionary


Wide, a. [Compar. Wider; superl. Widest.] Etym: [OE. wid, wyde, AS. wid; akin to OFries. & OS. wid, D. wijd, G. weit, OHG. wit, Icel. vi\'ebr, 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. 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." Chaucer. For sceptered cynics earth were far too wide a den. Byron. When the wide bloom, on earth that lies, Seems of a brighter world than ours. Bryant.

3. Of large scope; comprehensive; liberal; broad; as, wide views; a wide understanding. Men of strongest head and widest culture. M. 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. Hammond.

6. Far from truth, from propriety, from necessity, or the like. "Our wide expositors." Milton. It is far wide that the people have such judgments. Latimer. How wide is all this long pretense ! 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. Spenser. I was but two bows wide. Massinger.

8. (Phon.)

Definition: 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 e (eve) is î (îll); of a (ate) is ê (ênd), etc. See Guide to Pronunciation, § 13-15.

Note: 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.

Wide, adv. Etym: [As. w.]

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. Piers Plowman.

2. So as to leave or have a great space between the sides; so as to form a large opening. Shak.

3. So as to be or strike far from, or on one side of, an object or purpose; aside; astray.

Wide, n.

1. That which is wide; wide space; width; extent. "The waste wide of that abyss." Tennyson.

2. That which goes wide, or to one side of the mark.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

29 March 2024

FAULTFINDING

(adjective) tending to make moral judgments or judgments based on personal opinions; “a counselor tries not to be faultfinding”


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