widen
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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widens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
widened,
past participle, past
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widening
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
widensimple
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widenssimple
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have widenedperfect
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has widenedperfect
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am wideningprogressive
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are wideningprogressive
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is wideningprogressive
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have been wideningperfect progressive
-
has been wideningperfect progressive
Past
-
widenedsimple
-
had widenedperfect
-
was wideningprogressive
-
were wideningprogressive
-
had been wideningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of widen
Explanation
When you made something broader or more open, you widen it. In order to add bike lanes on your street, the city may need to widen it. Your friend's smile will undoubtedly widen when you hand him a chocolate cupcake — in other words, what starts as a grin gets bigger and wider. A scholar who widens her area of expertise adds subjects to her research, and your dinner options widen when two great new restaurants open in your town.
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:
“My ever increasing involvement and identification with the poor only continues to widen the gap between my obedience to religious authority and my own understanding of what my life as a Christian must entail.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Fitzpatrick said research showed children from working class backgrounds tended to be "educationally further ahead" than their peers from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, and argued the education minister's plans would widen this disparity.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
Endothelial function describes how well blood vessels relax and widen, and better function is associated with a lower risk of heart attacks.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 13, 2026
Higher crude costs threaten to widen India’s import bill and push up inflation, and have punished the rupee, which has weakened more than 6% against the dollar this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Ishtar flips her blade from one hand to the other and sees Nergal's eyes widen.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
The Microsoft founder and one of the world’s biggest philanthropists warns that artificial intelligence could be either a “great equalizer” or a force that widens the world’s inequality gap.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
Saudi Arabia has closed a critical oil pipeline after it was attacked by drones launched from Iraq, as conflict in the Middle East widens.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
In July, the mega-refinery secured $2.5 billion in investment from private investors to fund its expansion plans as it widens its refining business to east Africa.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
That makes it economical to do a lot more things in space and widens SpaceX’s already-large competitive moat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
“Kali. She told me a long time ago—when I first went to where the brook widens near the river.”
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
Spreads on investment-grade hyperscaler bonds, as tracked by strategists at JPMorgan, have widened by more than a quarter percentage point this year through mid-September.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
The Dodgers widened their lead in the division to 9 1/2 games — before the conclusion of the Padres’ game against the Rockies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
The investigation was then widened in March 2025 to include gross negligence manslaughter.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
The gulf between contribution rates of those paying loans and those without debt widened with age.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
I tried to signal to Juanita with widened eyes that it was enough, but she either didn’t get the hint or decided to ignore it.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
Rights groups have described a widening campaign against the LGBTQ+ community.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
The widening gap between the two nearest Brent contracts is reflecting that concern, and telling you that “buyers are paying increasingly more for barrels they can get their hands on now,” Innes said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
The index is vulnerable to a widening in yields between French OATs and German Bunds, they say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Gasoline, diesel and other fuels have risen far more sharply than crude, widening the spread between feedstock costs and product prices and pushing refinery margins in the Atlantic Basin to record levels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Then she sees me and falters, eyes widening.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
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.
