wide-open

[wahyd-oh-puhn]

adjective

1. opened to the full extent.

   a wide-open window.

2. lacking laws or strict enforcement of laws concerning liquor, vice, gambling, etc..

   a wide-open town.

wide-open

adjective

1. open to the full extent

2. (postpositive) exposed to attack; vulnerable

3. uncertain as to outcome

4. 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of wide-open¹

First recorded in 1850–55

Idioms and Phrases

Unresolved, unsettled, as in The fate of that former colony is still wide open . [Mid-1900s]

Unprotected or vulnerable, as in That remark about immigrants left him wide open to hostile criticism . This expression originated in boxing, where it signifies being off one's guard and open to an opponent's punches. It began to be used more broadly about 1940. Also see leave open .

Example Sentences

The rise of skyscrapers with their wide-open interior spaces made it possible to organize offices and desks following scientific management principles to improve productivity, even down to how workers stuffed envelopes.

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If the show holds a particular appeal to conservatives, and it does, that aligns with Montana’s political bent, along with the other wide-open spaces in the Western United States that don’t touch the Pacific Ocean.

Read more on Salon

For stock, bond, and foreign direct investors, Argentina now presents a wide-open field.

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Most of her time was spent outdoors, with animals, under the wide-open sky.

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At wide-open throttle, the raunchiness doesn’t come in wild quanta but in one smoothly linear, incredibly steep exponential function, with no interval for tactility and feedback.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• lawless 
• ungoverned www.thesaurus.com