narrow

[nar-oh]

adjective

narrower, narrowest 

1. of little breadth or width; not broad or wide; not as wide as usual or expected.

   a narrow path.

2. limited in extent or space; affording little room.

   narrow quarters.

3. limited in range or scope.

   a narrow sampling of public opinion.

4. lacking breadth of view or sympathy, as persons, the mind, or ideas.

   a narrow man, knowing only his professional specialty;

   a narrow mind.

   Synonyms: small-minded, shallow, limited, biased

5. with little margin to spare; barely adequate or successful; close.

   a narrow escape.

6. careful, thorough, or minute, as a scrutiny, search, or inquiry.

7. limited in amount; small; meager.

   narrow resources.

8. characterized by limited means; straitened; impoverished.

   Since work was scarce, he soon found himself in narrow circumstances.

9. New England.,  stingy or parsimonious.

10. Phonetics.

    1. (of a vowel) articulated with the tongue laterally constricted, as the ee of beet, the oo of boot, etc.; tense.

    2. (of a phonetic transcription) utilizing a unique symbol for each phoneme and whatever supplementary diacritics are needed to indicate its subphonemic varieties.

11. (of livestock feeds) proportionately rich in protein.

verb (used without object)

1. to decrease in width or breadth.

   This is where the road narrows.

verb (used with object)

1. to make narrower.

2. to limit or restrict (often followed bydown ): to narrow down a contest to three competitors.

   to narrow an area of search;

   to narrow down a contest to three competitors.

3. to make narrow-minded.

   Living in that village has narrowed him.

noun

1. a narrow part, place, or thing.

2. a narrow part of a valley, passage, or road.

3. (used with a singular or plural verb),  narrows, a narrow part of a strait, river, ocean current, etc.

4. 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.

narrow

/ ˈnærəʊ /

adjective

1. small in breadth, esp in comparison to length

2. limited in range or extent

3. limited in outlook; lacking breadth of vision

4. limited in means or resources; meagre

   narrow resources

5. barely adequate or successful (esp in the phrase a narrow escape )

6. painstakingly thorough; minute

   a narrow scrutiny

7. finance denoting an assessment of liquidity as including notes and coin in circulation with the public, banks' till money, and banks' balances Compare broad

   narrow money

8. dialect,  overcareful with money; parsimonious

9. phonetics

   1. another word for tense 1

   2. relating to or denoting a transcription used to represent phonetic rather than phonemic distinctions

   3. another word for close 1

10. (of agricultural feeds) especially rich in protein

11. informal,  an escape only just managed

verb

1. to make or become narrow; limit; restrict

noun

1. a narrow place, esp a pass or strait

Other Word Forms

• narrowly adverb
• narrowness noun
• overnarrow adjective
• overnarrowly adverb
• overnarrowness noun
• unnarrow adjective
• unnarrowly adverb
• unnarrowed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of narrow¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English narw(e), nareu(e), narow(e), Old English nearu (inflectional stem nearw- ), cognate with Old Saxon naru “narrow,” Dutch naar “dismal, unpleasant,” Old Saxon naro, naru “narrow, depressing”; possibly akin to German Narbe “scar,” literally, “narrow mark”

Word History and Origins

Origin of narrow¹

Old English nearu; related to Old Saxon naru

Idioms and Phrases

• straight and narrow

Example Sentences

Too much bad cholesterol can lead to a build-up of fatty deposits inside the walls of blood vessels, causing them to become narrowed or blocked.

From BBC

“It is time to end this unprecedented experiment in militarized law enforcement and conscription of state National Guard troops outside the narrow conditions allowed by Congress.”

From Los Angeles Times

These include memos aimed at expanding employee rights of college athletes and sharply narrowing the legality of noncompete and nondisparagement clauses in employee contracts and severance agreements.

From Los Angeles Times

In an interview, McOsker said he was horrified by the conditions at the Wilmington site, including narrow driving lanes, food for sale outdoors and washers and dryers connected with extension cords.

From Los Angeles Times

In between, there was a narrow defeat by Genk in which Rangers played 50 minutes with 10 men.

From BBC

Related Words

• cramped 
• definite 
• limited 
• precarious 
• precise 
• slender 
• slim 
• small 
• thin 
• tight