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wide

adjective · adverb

Simple meaning

Having a large physical extent from side to side.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

wyd
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈwaɪd

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Having a large physical extent from side to side.

  2. Large in scope.

  3. Having great (or a certain) extent from one side to the other

adverb

  1. With or by a broad space

  2. So as to leave or have a great space between the sides; so as to form a large opening.

  3. Away from or to one side of a given goal

  4. Extensively

  5. Completely

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Having a large physical extent from side to side.

Used this way, wide is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use wide

  • “The river was very wide, making it a challenge to cross.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

wide rangewide varietywide webwide worldwide areawide distributionwide fieldwide array

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • broad

    Having great (or a certain) extent from one side to the other.

  • extensive

    Having a great extent.

  • considerable

    Large in amount.

  • ample

    Large; great in size, extent, capacity, or bulk; for example spacious, roomy or widely extended.

  • thick

    Curvy and voluptuous, and especially having large hips.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • widelyadverbDerived adverb

    To a great degree.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • wide screennounCompound term

    A projection screen that is much wider than it is high.

  • wide walenounCompound term

    Corduroy with wide ribs.

  • wide-angle lensnounCompound term

    A camera lens having a wider than normal angle of view (and usually a short focal length).

  • widely distributedadjectiveCompound term

    Growing or occurring in many parts of the world.

  • wide area networknounCompound term

    A computer network that spans a wider area than does a local area network.

  • wide-angleadjectiveCompound term

    Of or relating to a fisheye lens.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • widenverbRelated term

    Become broader or wider or more extensive.

  • widebandadjectiveRelated term

    Responding to or operating at a wide band of frequencies.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: having a large physical extent from side to side

ample

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.