widen
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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widens,
present (3rd person singular)
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widened,
past participle, past
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widening
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
widensimple
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widenssimple
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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
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has been wideningperfect progressive
Past
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widenedsimple
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had widenedperfect
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was wideningprogressive
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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:
A slowdown makes default fears rise and credit spreads widen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
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
Our circles widen even more, and I think it is a good way to live.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
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
"You've got the same job title, same tenure, but different value based on whether someone treats AI as a threat or a tool - that gap widens really quickly once leadership notices it," says Pamela.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
If competing platforms adopt equivalent commitments, the overnight block widens to 10:00 pm to 7:00 am and the daily allowance drops to 60 minutes per app, capped at two hours across all of them.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
That makes it economical to do a lot more things in space and widens SpaceX’s already-large competitive moat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
“There’s a directory in the media unit of the trailer,” Ayesha says, then widens her eyes in mock horror.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
The strong exports widened China’s trade surplus to $133.5 billion in September from $119.1 billion in August, and exceeded the $111.4 billion forecast by economists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
In all three cases, the P/E ratio contracted, and the CDS spread widened, but Nvidia appears unscathed.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026
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
The trade gap in goods and services widened by 14% in August from July to a seasonally adjusted number of roughly $106 billion, the Commerce Department said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Duane’s eyes suddenly widened because he finally understood what “conducting experiments for the advancement of knowledge toward the benefit of all” truly meant, and he was grateful.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
Leading doctors have described the situation as "discriminatory" and argued that the lack of access on the NHS is widening health inequalities.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
Either result will paint a fuller picture, widening the spotlight little by little, until everything begins to glow.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026
More interesting than why the spreads are widening is the disconnect between the stocks’ performance and the credit market’s assessment.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026
A widening gap between stock and bond volatility gauges suggests equities could be overlooking inflation, borrowing, and interest-rate risks.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
“You told me all this had nothing to do with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, remember? Well —” “It was a clue, sir,” said Dobby, his eyes widening, as though this was obvious.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
