wide-open
opened to the full extent: a wide-open window.
lacking laws or strict enforcement of laws concerning liquor, vice, gambling, etc.: a wide-open town.
Origin of wide-open
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use wide-open in a sentence
Trying The Macallan for the first time cracked it wide open for me in terms of how special whisky could be.
A Whisky Connoisseur Remembers That First Sip of The Macallan | | December 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt was definitely an anti-closure ending, and if the character—and show—has life behind it, it leaves the door wide open.
Michael C. Hall on Going Drag for ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ and Exorcising ‘Dexter’ | Marlow Stern | December 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAs his “doors of perception” were being blown wide open, he found Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols.
Can you make it in a wide-open market in which consumers have loads of options?
Yes We Can Still Market: Why U.S. Brands Remain World’s Most Valuable | Daniel Gross | June 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe ball then swung to a wide-open Chris Bosh for a corner three that gave Miami the lead for good.
LeBron James Is a Better Leader Than Michael Jordan Ever Was | Robert Silverman | May 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
A very brief exercise of Mr. Sikess art sufficed to overcome the fastening of the lattice, and it soon stood wide open also.
Oliver Twist, Vol. II (of 3) | Charles DickensThe flap was wide open and any ordinary animal would have been out and away without the least trouble.
Three More John Silence Stories | Algernon BlackwoodOld Captain sat up on his haunches, his slantwise eyes wide open with wonder.
The Soldier of the Valley | Nelson LloydThe safe door was standing wide open, the interior cleanly empty.
The baby lay on his back, his wide-open eyes looking upwards, good as gold.
Elster's Folly | Mrs. Henry Wood
British Dictionary definitions for wide-open
open to the full extent
(postpositive) exposed to attack; vulnerable
uncertain as to outcome
US informal (of a town or city) lax in the enforcement of certain laws, esp those relating to the sale and consumption of alcohol, gambling, the control of vice, etc
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with wide-open
Unresolved, unsettled, as in The fate of that former colony is still wide open. [Mid-1900s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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