narrow
of little breadth or width; not broad or wide; not as wide as usual or expected: a narrow path.
limited in extent or space; affording little room: narrow quarters.
limited in range or scope: a narrow sampling of public opinion.
lacking breadth of view or sympathy, as persons, the mind, or ideas: a narrow man, knowing only his professional specialty;a narrow mind.
with little margin to spare; barely adequate or successful; close: a narrow escape.
careful, thorough, or minute, as a scrutiny, search, or inquiry.
characterized by limited means; straitened; impoverished: Since work was scarce, he soon found himself in narrow circumstances.
New England. stingy or parsimonious.
Phonetics.
(of a vowel) articulated with the tongue laterally constricted, as the ee of beet, the oo of boot, etc.; tense.: Compare lax1 (def. 7).
(of a phonetic transcription) utilizing a unique symbol for each phoneme and whatever supplementary diacritics are needed to indicate its subphonemic varieties.: Compare broad (def. 14).
(of livestock feeds) proportionately rich in protein.
to decrease in width or breadth: This is where the road narrows.
to make narrower.
to limit or restrict (often followed by down): to narrow an area of search;to narrow down a contest to three competitors.
to make narrow-minded: Living in that village has narrowed him.
a narrow part, place, or thing.
a narrow part of a valley, passage, or road.
narrows, (used with a singular or plural verb) a narrow part of a strait, river, ocean current, etc.
the Narrows, a narrow strait from upper to lower New York Bay, between Staten Island and Long Island. 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) long; 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) wide.
Origin of narrow
1Other words for narrow
Other words from narrow
- nar·row·ly, adverb
- nar·row·ness, noun
- o·ver·nar·row, adjective
- o·ver·nar·row·ly, adverb
- o·ver·nar·row·ness, noun
- un·nar·row, adjective
- un·nar·row·ly, adverb
- un·nar·rowed, adjective
Words Nearby narrow
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use narrow in a sentence
Even those who were in the Capitol that day had only a narrow sense of what happened.
I was skeptical of Democrats pursuing a second impeachment. I was wrong. | Karen Tumulty | February 11, 2021 | Washington PostGoogle previously added a menu at the top to let you filter based on those alternate meanings and better narrow down the search results to what you are looking for.
Google Image Search update reduces duplicate image results | Barry Schwartz | February 11, 2021 | Search Engine LandAs we noted earlier, the research subjects — college students and MTurk users — they represent narrow slices of the population.
Can I Ask You a Ridiculously Personal Question? (Ep. 451) | Stephen J. Dubner | February 11, 2021 | FreakonomicsHer terror is played out for entertainment, whether that means a narrow escape or a bloody death.
Capitol rioters searched for Nancy Pelosi in a way that should make every woman’s skin crawl | Monica Hesse | February 11, 2021 | Washington PostI think that on both sides of the aisle, you see these entrenched politicians, this entrenched political class who have a very narrow viewpoint of how the world should act.
What it endangers is a narrow conception of Russian power, understood through the eyes of its dictatorial leader.
By that time, SantaCon had already spread beyond the narrow confines of a few prankster-explorers.
Before the Bros, SantaCon Was as an Anti-Corporate Protest | David Freedlander | December 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTA cruiser shows up and eyes narrow and citizens often withdraw.
The Wildly Peaceful, Human, Almost Boring, Ultimately Great New York City Protests for Eric Garner | Mike Barnicle | December 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd besides, the studies that do enjoy widespread media circulation focus on a very narrow segment of the LGBT community: gay men.
He has sunken eyes and a narrow black beard speckled with gray.
Heart of Darkness: Into Afghanistan’s Taliban Valley | Matt Trevithick, Daniel Seckman | November 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe streets here are rather wide for an Italian city but would be deemed intolerably narrow in America.
Glances at Europe | Horace GreeleyHe is rather tall and narrow, and wears a long abb's coat reaching nearly down to his feet.
Music-Study in Germany | Amy FayAs he was toiling slowly up a narrow, rocky pass, he suddenly saw an Indian's head peering over the ledge.
Ramona | Helen Hunt JacksonHer thin and narrow hands held the balcony railing rather tightly.
Bella Donna | Robert HichensWhen we got to the house we entered an obscure corridor and began to find our way up a dark and narrow staircase.
Music-Study in Germany | Amy Fay
British Dictionary definitions for narrow
/ (ˈnærəʊ) /
small in breadth, esp in comparison to length
limited in range or extent
limited in outlook; lacking breadth of vision
limited in means or resources; meagre: narrow resources
barely adequate or successful (esp in the phrase a narrow escape)
painstakingly thorough; minute: a narrow scrutiny
finance denoting an assessment of liquidity as including notes and coin in circulation with the public, banks' till money, and banks' balances: narrow money Compare broad (def. 14)
dialect overcareful with money; parsimonious
phonetics
another word for tense 1 (def. 4)
relating to or denoting a transcription used to represent phonetic rather than phonemic distinctions
another word for close 1 (def. 21)
(of agricultural feeds) especially rich in protein
narrow squeak informal an escape only just managed
to make or become narrow; limit; restrict
a narrow place, esp a pass or strait
Origin of narrow
1- See also narrows
Derived forms of narrow
- narrowly, adverb
- narrowness, noun
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 narrow
In addition to the idiom beginning with narrow
- narrow escape
, see
- straight and narrow
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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