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
-
widenssimple
-
have widenedperfect
-
has widenedperfect
-
am wideningprogressive
-
are wideningprogressive
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is wideningprogressive
-
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:
Imports were higher than exports by $105 billion, down 0.7% from August, in contrast to economists’ expectations for the trade gap to widen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
Kenningham of Capital Economics predicted there would be "no lifeline for France" at Thursday's meeting, saying spreads between French and German bonds, the eurozone benchmark, would need to widen far more to justify any action.
From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2026
This gap is set to widen in the coming years, leading some to warn Europe risks missing out on the potential economic benefits of the AI boom, external.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
This could potentially weigh on risk assets, widen credit spreads, and push implied volatility higher.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 25, 2026
Her eyes widen as they fall on us.
From "Zara’s Rules for Record-Breaking Fun" by Hena Khan
They are benefiting from the “crack spread,” as the gap between the price of crude and the price of fuels widens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
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
"You've got the same job title, same tenure, but different value based on whether someone treats AI as a threat or a tool - that gap widens really quickly once leadership notices it," says Pamela.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
If competing platforms adopt equivalent commitments, the overnight block widens to 10:00 pm to 7:00 am and the daily allowance drops to 60 minutes per app, capped at two hours across all of them.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
Each jerk widens the cut the hook makes and then when he does jump he might throw it.
From "The Old Man and The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway
And if the net is widened to include powerlifting and pro wrestling, Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Jesse Ventura of Minnesota get a nod.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
Nigeria has widened a hunt for potential Ebola cases, with an additional nine contacts traced, health authorities said Sunday.
From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2026
She’d turned to face me head-on, eyes widened in feigned shock, her right hand over her heart.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
“CCC spreads have widened like this in every major liquidity event that we’ve had in the last 30 years,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
“Starving,” Camilla said absently, and then her eyes widened.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
“They’re closing the gap with Tesla and widening the gap with legacy automakers like GM and Ford,” Pierce said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
Investors will be on the lookout for potential comments by ECB President Christine Lagarde on the recent widening of 10-year French OAT-German Bund yield spreads.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
“The widening gap between categories highlights the importance of portfolio execution and a broader U.S. recovery,” Baader Europe analyst Theodore Duval-Segard wrote in a note following the update.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
Apple maintains that widening access could undermine security, and that its current arrangements do not stop innovation.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
Her eyes widening behind her glasses, she leaned in closer.
From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
