narrow

[ nar-oh ]

See synonyms for: narrow narrowed narrower narrowest on Thesaurus.com

adjective,nar·row·er, nar·row·est.

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.
limited in amount; small; meager: narrow resources.
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.

verb (used without object)

to decrease in width or breadth: This is where the road narrows.

verb (used with object)

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.

noun

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

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”

Other words for narrow

4	biased, limited, shallow, small-minded

See synonyms for narrow on Thesaurus.com

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use narrow in a sentence

Tip: The narrower upper deck in coach is the better choice because its eight-seat rows cannot be extended.
Flying Coach Is the New Hell: How Airlines Engineer You Out of Room | Clive Irving | November 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
As I noted in May, the Windsor opinion is actually much narrower than the cases that have followed in its midst.
Supreme Court to Gay-Marriage Foes: Get Lost | Jay Michaelson | October 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The other trend perhaps has a narrower reach; it has to do with changes within journalism in the age of the Internet.
Jeff Sharlet’s ‘Radiant Truths’: How Religion Shaped American Literary Journalism | Jonathan D. Fitzgerald | May 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
"We find that consumption inequality is much narrower than income inequality," Marthur said.
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows, April 27 | PunditFact.com | April 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Their Big Twin, however, the A330, with a narrower cabin than the 777, has done extremely well.
The Exemplary Plane at the Heart of the MH370 Mystery | Clive Irving | March 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST

I turned right into a narrow street, went along it about fifty yards, and paused where it was crossed by a still narrower alley.
Fee of the Frontier | Horace Brown Fyfe
As the ill-assorted pair advanced, the streets they traversed seemed to grow narrower and dirtier.
The Garret and the Garden | R.M. Ballantyne
They soon reached a narrower part of the cave, with a screen of rough planks running across it.
Digby Heathcote | W.H.G. Kingston
He reserved, of course, a passageway to his own door, narrower or wider according to the circumstances.
The Private Life of the Romans | Harold Whetstone Johnston
The river gradually became narrower and more tortuous as we approached its head waters.
Famous Adventures And Prison Escapes of the Civil War | Various

British Dictionary definitions for narrow

narrow

/ (ˈnærəʊ) /

adjective

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

verb

to make or become narrow; limit; restrict

noun

a narrow place, esp a pass or strait

Origin of narrow

Old English nearu; related to Old Saxon naru

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

narrow

In addition to the idiom beginning with narrow

narrow escape

, see

straight and narrow

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