widespread

[ wahyd-spred ]

adjective

1. spread over or open, or occupying a wide space.
2. distributed over a wide region, or occurring in many places or among many persons or individuals:

   widespread poverty.

   Synonyms: pervasive, far-flung, extensive, far-reaching

widespread

/ ˈwaɪdˌsprɛd /

adjective

1. extending over a wide area
2. accepted by or occurring among many people

Word History and Origins

Origin of widespread¹

First recorded in 1695–1705; wide + spread

Example Sentences

The coronavirus pandemic and the resulting widespread shift to remote learning have brought major changes to physical education.

From Washington Post

One review concluded that the available evidence doesn’t suggest widespread harm to humans—but added that the evidence is limited.

From Popular-Science

That’s worrisome to some health experts, who note that other events celebrated with widespread get-togethers, such as Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, have been accompanied by a jump in infections.

From Washington Post

Verily, a health tech sister company of Google, was touted early on as a potential solution to provide widespread testing across the country.

From Washington Post

The Fed’s ongoing intervention in the market will probably hold down rates, but Blake anticipates they will rise slowly as coronavirus vaccinations become more widespread.

From Washington Post

But the inability to measure progress in the ISIS campaign is widespread.

From The Daily Beast

Where the force generating those threats is a widespread, self-sustaining, and virulent social movement?

From The Daily Beast

Those same studies unsurprisingly reveal widespread distrust of police officers among sex workers.

From The Daily Beast

Widespread, popular protests began last week after the local grand jury decision.

From The Daily Beast

It is this very sensitive issue that has galvanized widespread resistance from previously loyal campesinos.

From The Daily Beast

Discontent was so widespread that the new general at once ordered all troops, save some three thousand, to leave the capital.

From Project Gutenberg

Mr. Ward is a man of great talents—his fame is widespread as an orator and man of learning, and needs no encomium from us.

From Project Gutenberg

The commercial motorcycle is said to be gaining widespread favor, and therein lies its greatest future.

From Project Gutenberg

Scotch intellectual activity is the result of a widespread education which is within the reach of the poorest.

From Project Gutenberg

An examination of Elizabethan writings does not conduce to the idea of the term having had a widespread acceptation.

From Project Gutenberg