widen
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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widens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
widened,
past participle, past
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widening
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
widensimple
-
widenssimple
-
have widenedperfect
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has widenedperfect
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am wideningprogressive
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are wideningprogressive
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is wideningprogressive
-
have been wideningperfect progressive
-
has been wideningperfect progressive
Past
-
widenedsimple
-
had widenedperfect
-
was wideningprogressive
-
were wideningprogressive
-
had been wideningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of widen
Explanation
When you made something broader or more open, you widen it. In order to add bike lanes on your street, the city may need to widen it. Your friend's smile will undoubtedly widen when you hand him a chocolate cupcake — in other words, what starts as a grin gets bigger and wider. A scholar who widens her area of expertise adds subjects to her research, and your dinner options widen when two great new restaurants open in your town.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Epner supports a proposed change to New York's law to widen the scope of when someone is too intoxicated to consent.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
You can still buy homes under $1 million in Los Angeles, but you’ll have to be smarter about your search, widen your location preference and prepare to compromise.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Trade ministers from several G20 economies are also seeking to widen trade talks beyond their US host this week.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
That’s the question hanging over this summit and any future ones: What is Beijing willing to pay to widen that window?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Hannah’s, Dalton’s, and Awesiinh’s jaws drop; their eyes widen.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
The Microsoft founder and one of the world’s biggest philanthropists warns that artificial intelligence could be either a “great equalizer” or a force that widens the world’s inequality gap.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
Saudi Arabia has closed a critical oil pipeline after it was attacked by drones launched from Iraq, as conflict in the Middle East widens.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Filing jointly with your wife widens your tax brackets, and standard deductions help limit your taxable income.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026
If the race for nuclear weapons widens and accelerates, the region will become more unstable, heightening risks for the entire world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
The hills begin to plane out into a high plateau, and the road widens.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
As the gap between the stock market’s winners and losers has widened over the past few months, more individual names have been trading at odds with the broader index.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
A police investigation into Seo's account was then widened to other residents.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
Instead, “le spread,” traders’ shorthand for the difference in borrowing costs between France and Germany, widened dramatically, as did “lo spread,” or the extra yield on Italian government bonds over bunds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
Access to the internet has widened their perspective, and many told Poole González that they dream of joining the exodus of more than 1 million Cubans who have left the island in recent years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Ekon watched Fahim, standing nearby, as his eyes widened in horror.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
Shell and other oil majors are seeing "an unprecedented widening of the refining spread", said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Washington is widening the entrance in the same week the people inside learned the exit is 5% wide.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
Other options include widening the Brynglas Tunnels - one of the most significant causes of congestion on the M4 in Wales.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
The Swiss franc rose strongly as investors sought safety amid a widening gap between French and German government bond yields.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
He put back his terrible face and sniffed, his slit-like nostrils widening.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
