widen
verb
Simple meaning
To make wide or wider.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wyduhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈwaɪdən
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To make wide or wider.
intransitive
To become wide or wider.
Become broader or wider or more extensive
Make (clothes) larger
Extend in scope or range or area
transitive
To broaden or extend in scope or range.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
An increase in width.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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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.