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
-
are wideningprogressive
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is wideningprogressive
-
have been wideningperfect progressive
-
has been wideningperfect progressive
Past
-
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:
While the scope of the trade war could widen with new tariffs, both economies likely can shoulder the burden of the current levies, at least for a time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Should competing platforms adopt equivalent commitments, the overnight lockout would widen to 10 pm to 7 am and the daily allowance would fall to 60 minutes per app, capped at two hours in total.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
The 101 has long been a bottleneck nightmare as it approaches Santa Barbara and the yearslong project to widen the freeway has only made it worse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Davies added they would be looking to widen footpaths and create fire breaks going forward, but asked any future visitors to stay off the burnt area.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
He saw her eyes widen, her face getting redder.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
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
Occasionally, a new tool or technique comes along that widens this to a shotgun: aim at a few closely related problems and hope that you hit one.
From Slate ● Jun. 22, 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 gap widens when long-term rates rise — boosting bank profits.
From MarketWatch ● May 7, 2026
The entrance is huge, and the cave widens out from there.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
As testing widened, frozen lasagna and spaghetti bolognese sold across Europe were found in some cases to contain “beef” that was almost entirely horse.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
With William in the UK and Harry self-exiled in California, the gulf between the two has only widened.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
The additional ballots widened the slim lead Wahab held on election night.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
The gap between the highest- and lowest-performing regions in England has widened.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
I tried to signal to Juanita with widened eyes that it was enough, but she either didn’t get the hint or decided to ignore it.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
Growth is now widening beyond a narrow group of AI and bank stocks, according to Gerry Fowler, who leads the European equity strategy team at UBS.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Fagan argued that there's a case for "widening" the tax base through some new approaches, such as environmental taxes.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Treasury bonds because of the country’s widening deficit, Royal said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
A combination of sales growth and widening profit margins is a good sign for any company.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
“Oh, can I, now?” he says, eyes widening, taking in Viola behind me.
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
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.
