adjective
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extending over a wide area
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accepted by or occurring among many people
Etymology
Origin of widespread
Explanation
Widespread means far-reaching. For years, email was used only by computer programmers and technophiles. It was hard to imagine, back then, how widespread the phenomenon of digital communication would become. An idea that's widespread, is believed by many people, even if it's not true. A person such as Oprah, Gandhi, or Beyoncé, who has widespread popularity, is loved by many far and wide. A widespread disease is one that many people have — the flu epidemic of 1919 was deadly and widespread.
Vocabulary lists containing widespread
"The Civil Rights Movement"
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100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
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"Laws are not the only way to boost immunization”: an editorial from Nature
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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.
Amid the demands for action, the governor of Baja California, Marina del Pilar Ávila, tried to ease public fears about the widespread violence in her state.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
That’s not the case, despite AI’s use becoming widespread on Wall Street.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
"The foreign direct investment pool is actually widespread because there are other countries, other sectors which are also attracting investment," he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
Ciliates are widespread in freshwater and marine environments.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
Thus the printing press took scattered astronomers and astrologers belonging to different cultures and holding varied intellectual commitments and allowed the widespread exchange and comparison of ideas.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
