widen

verb

wid·en ˈwī-dᵊn

widened; widening ˈwīd-niŋ

ˈwī-dᵊn-iŋ

Synonyms of widen next

transitive verb

: to increase the width, scope, or extent of

widen a road

widen an investigation

intransitive verb

: to become wide or wider

a widening gap

widener

ˈwīd-nər

ˈwī-dᵊn-ər

noun

Examples of widen in a Sentence

The city is going to widen the road. They plan to widen the investigation. Her eyes widened in surprise. They went swimming at a spot where the river widens. The scope of the investigation has widened.

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Polls before the election had found a widening gender gap between the two candidates. —

Angela Yang, NBC News, 12 Nov. 2024 In particular, House District 69 representing Carmel remained extremely close for several hours, though Republican Danny Lopez has widened the margin to about 7 percentage points above Democrat Matt McNally with nearly all of the votes counted. —

Kayla Dwyer, The Indianapolis Star, 6 Nov. 2024 Zoom out: Harris has widened her lead among swing state college students. —

Erica Pandey, Axios, 4 Nov. 2024 Prognosticators have focused on the widening gender gap with women favoring Harris and men preferring Trump, both by double-digit differences. —

Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for widen