wide
adjective
having considerable or great extent from side to side; broad.
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Awidni.
wide
1 American
[wahyd]
/ waɪd /
adjective
-
wider,
comparative
-
widest
superlative
-
having considerable or great extent from side to side; broad.
a wide boulevard.
- Antonyms:
- narrow
-
having a certain or specified extent from side to side.
three feet wide.
-
of great horizontal extent; extensive; vast; spacious.
the wide plains of the West.
- Synonyms:
- ample, comprehensive, boundless
-
of great range or scope; embracing a great number or variety of subjects, cases, etc..
wide experience.
-
open to the full or a great extent; expanded; distended.
to stare with wide eyes.
-
apart or remote from a specified point or object.
a guess wide of the truth.
-
too far or too much to one side.
a shot wide of the mark.
-
Baseball. outside.
The pitch was wide of the plate.
-
full, ample, or roomy, as clothing.
He wore wide, flowing robes.
-
Phonetics. lax.
-
British Slang. shrewd; wary.
adverb
-
to the full extent of opening.
Open your mouth wide.
-
to the utmost, or fully.
to be wide awake.
-
away from or to one side of a point, mark, purpose, or the like; aside; astray.
The shot went wide.
-
over an extensive space or region, or far abroad.
scattered far and wide.
-
to a great, or relatively great, extent from side to side.
The river runs wide here.
noun
-
Cricket. a bowled ball that goes wide of the wicket, and counts as a run for the side batting.
-
Archaic. a wide space or expanse.
-wide
2
American
wide
British
/ waɪd /
adjective
-
having a great extent from side to side
-
of vast size or scope; spacious or extensive
-
-
(postpositive) having a specified extent, esp from side to side
two yards wide
-
(in combination) covering or extending throughout
nationwide
-
-
distant or remote from the desired point, mark, etc
your guess is wide of the mark
-
(of eyes) opened fully
-
loose, full, or roomy
wide trousers
-
exhibiting a considerable spread, as between certain limits
a wide variation
adverb
-
over an extensive area
to travel far and wide
-
to the full extent
he opened the door wide
-
far from the desired point, mark, etc
noun
-
(in cricket) a bowled ball that is outside the batsman's reach and scores a run for the batting side
-
archaic a wide space or extent
-
completely
wide
Idioms
Usage
What does -wide mean? The combining form -wide is used like a suffix meaning “wide,” in the sense of "throughout" or "in or to every part of." It is occasionally used in everyday and technical terms. The form -wide comes from Old English wīd, meaning “wide.”
Synonym Usage
Wide, broad refer to dimensions. They are often interchangeable, but wide especially applies to things of which the length is much greater than the width: a wide road, piece of ribbon. Broad is more emphatic, and applies to things of considerable or great width, breadth, or extent, especially to surfaces extending laterally: a broad valley.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
overwidenessnoun
-
widenessnoun
-
overwideadjective
-
superwideadjective
-
ultrawideadjective
-
widishadjective
-
overwidelyadverb
-
widelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of wide
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English wīd; cognate with Dutch wijd, German weit, Old Norse vīthr
Explanation
The word wide describes something that stretches across a great distance, like a smile that beams from ear to ear, or the open arms of a friend about to give you a big hug. Wide is an adjective that describes both physical spaces and ideas. A hallway with plenty of room for everyone to walk through can be called wide. If a dinner party has lots of different foods to pick from, you could say there’s a wide selection of dishes. A situation with many possible outcomes might have a wide range of results. Whether it's about space or variety, the word wide is all about having plenty of room.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"One of the reasons this is so compelling is that it has a Swiss Army-knife quality -- it can be applied in a wide range of settings," Vahala says.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026
“Perfect problem to have,” it wrote, ending the sentence with a wide grinning emoji.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Start the sauce: In a large, wide skillet or Dutch oven, heat the butter, olive oil or combination of the two over low heat.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
Top-quartile buyout managers have outperformed the public-market equivalent in every single period, by a wide margin.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
Eyes wide, snorting, body jerking, hooves lifting, pawing, kicking dirt, Belle’s afraid.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Trail mix: Grab your plastic bib and wooden mallet for the miles-long and -wide sealife buffet.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 4, 2019
The foot-tall and -wide tender perennial from South Africa had attractive purplish buds, but the narrow green leaves were slightly weedy-looking.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 5, 2017
Co-author Associate Professor Maarten Immink says the findings point to a wider change in the way the body manages movement as people grow older.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
It’s simply spread across a much wider landscape than alcohol alone.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
The new-found reach of these profiles, facilitated by Instagram's algorithms, opens them up to a wider pool of paying clients.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The controversy around Arday appears to have divided the Cambridge campus and wider academia.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
He is a couple of inches shorter than I am and somewhat wider.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
Give your eyes around 20 to 30 minutes to adjust to the darkness and look towards the widest unobstructed area of sky possible.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
It also has the widest geographic presence with facilities in half of all Indian states and union territories.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Reported EPS was 31.4% above expectations, which was the widest margin for a bottom-line beat since the 47.8% beat in the first quarter of 2021.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
Of the three known planets in the system, Beta Pictoris d has the widest orbit, although it still lies inside the inner boundary of the debris disk.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026
Sauakari picked out the widest available shoes and held them against Wiwor’s feet, but the shoes were still too narrow, sending Achmad and Sauakari and Ping Wah into peals of laughter.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
