Word Study
wide
CIDE DICTIONARY
wide, a. [OE. wid, wyde, AS. wīd; akin to OFries. & OS. wīd, D. wijd, G. weit, OHG. wīt, Icel. vī&edh;r, Sw. & Dan. vid; of uncertain origin.].
- Having considerable distance or extent between the sides; spacious across; much extended in a direction at right angles to that of length; not narrow; broad; as, wide cloth; a wide table; a wide highway; a wide bed; a wide hall or entry. [1913 Webster]"The chambers and the stables weren wyde." [1913 Webster]"Wide is the gate . . . that leadeth to destruction." [1913 Webster]
- Having a great extent every way; extended; spacious; broad; vast; extensive; as, a wide plain; the wide ocean; a wide difference. Chaucer. [1913 Webster]"For sceptered cynics earth were far too wide a den." [1913 Webster]"When the wide bloom, on earth that lies,
Seems of a brighter world than ours." [1913 Webster] - Of large scope; comprehensive; liberal; broad; as, wide views; a wide understanding. [1913 Webster]"Men of strongest head and widest culture." [1913 Webster]
- Of a certain measure between the sides; measuring in a direction at right angles to that of length; as, a table three feet wide. [1913 Webster]
- Remote; distant; far. [1913 Webster]"The contrary being so wide from the truth of Scripture and the attributes of God." [1913 Webster]
- Far from truth, from propriety, from necessity, or the like. Milton. [1913 Webster]"It is far wide that the people have such judgments." [1913 Webster]"How wide is all this long pretense !" [1913 Webster]
- On one side or the other of the mark; too far side-wise from the mark, the wicket, the batsman, etc. [1913 Webster]"Surely he shoots wide on the bow hand." [1913 Webster]"I was but two bows wide." [1913 Webster]
- Made, as a vowel, with a less tense, and more open and relaxed, condition of the mouth organs; -- opposed to primary as used by Mr. Bell, and to narrow as used by Mr. Sweet. The effect, as explained by Mr. Bell, is due to the relaxation or tension of the pharynx; as explained by Mr. Sweet and others, it is due to the action of the tongue. The wide of
Guide to Pronunciation, 1913 Webster] - Having or showing a wide difference between the highest and lowest price, amount of supply, etc.; as, a wide opening; wide prices, where the prices bid and asked differ by several points. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]" Wide is often prefixed to words, esp. to participles and participial adjectives, to form self-explaining compounds; as, wide-beaming, wide-branched, wide-chopped, wide-echoing, wide-extended, wide-mouthed, wide-spread, wide-spreading, and the like." [1913 Webster]
wide, adv. [As. w.].
- To a distance; far; widely; to a great distance or extent; as, his fame was spread wide. [1913 Webster]"[I] went wyde in this world, wonders to hear." [1913 Webster]
- So as to leave or have a great space between the sides; so as to form a large opening. Shak. [1913 Webster]
- So as to be or strike far from, or on one side of, an object or purpose; aside; astray. [1913 Webster]
wide, n.
- That which is wide; wide space; width; extent. Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
- That which goes wide, or to one side of the mark. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
wide, adj., adv., & n.
--adj.
1 a measuring much or more than other things of the same kind across or from side to side. b considerable; more than is needed (a wide margin).
2 (following a measurement) in width (a metre wide).
3 extending far; embracing much; of great extent (has a wide range; has wide experience; reached a wide public).
4 not tight or close or restricted; loose.
5 a free, liberal; unprejudiced (takes wide views). b not specialized; general.
6 open to the full extent (staring with wide eyes).
7 a (foll. by of) not within a reasonable distance of. b at a considerable distance from a point or mark.
8 Brit. sl. shrewd; skilled in sharp practice (wide boy).
9 (in comb.) extending over the whole of (nationwide).
--adv.
1 widely.
2 to the full extent (wide awake).
3 far from the target etc. (is shooting wide).
--n.
1 Cricket a ball judged to pass the wicket beyond the batsman's reach and so scoring a run.
2 (prec. by the) the wide world.
--adj.
1 a measuring much or more than other things of the same kind across or from side to side. b considerable; more than is needed (a wide margin).
2 (following a measurement) in width (a metre wide).
3 extending far; embracing much; of great extent (has a wide range; has wide experience; reached a wide public).
4 not tight or close or restricted; loose.
5 a free, liberal; unprejudiced (takes wide views). b not specialized; general.
6 open to the full extent (staring with wide eyes).
7 a (foll. by of) not within a reasonable distance of. b at a considerable distance from a point or mark.
8 Brit. sl. shrewd; skilled in sharp practice (wide boy).
9 (in comb.) extending over the whole of (nationwide).
--adv.
1 widely.
2 to the full extent (wide awake).
3 far from the target etc. (is shooting wide).
--n.
1 Cricket a ball judged to pass the wicket beyond the batsman's reach and so scoring a run.
2 (prec. by the) the wide world.
Idiom
give a wide berth to see BERTH. wide-angle (of a lens) having a short focal length and hence a field covering a wide angle. wide awake
1 fully awake.
2 colloq. wary, knowing.
wide ball Cricket (sense
1 of n.). wide-eyed surprised or na{iuml}ve. wide of the mark see MARK(1). wide open (often foll. by to) exposed or vulnerable (to attack etc.). wide-ranging covering an extensive range. the wide world all the world great as it is.
1 fully awake.
2 colloq. wary, knowing.
wide ball Cricket (sense
1 of n.). wide-eyed surprised or na{iuml}ve. wide of the mark see MARK(1). wide open (often foll. by to) exposed or vulnerable (to attack etc.). wide-ranging covering an extensive range. the wide world all the world great as it is.
Derivative
wideness n. widish adj.
Etymology
OE wid (adj.), wide (adv.) f. Gmc
THESAURUS
wide
aberrant, abroad, abstract, accented, adrift, advanced, afield, all abroad, all off, all wrong, alveolar, amiss, ample, amplitudinous, apical, apico-alveolar, apico-dental, articulated, askew, assimilated, astray, at fault, awry, back, barytone, beside the mark, bilabial, bland, broad, broad-gauged, broad-minded, broadly, cacuminal, capacious, catholic, central, cerebral, checked, clear, close, collective, commodious, comprehensive, consonant, consonantal, continuant, copious, corrupt, cosmopolitan, deceptive, deep, defective, delusive, dental, deviant, deviational, deviative, diffuse, dissimilated, distantly and broadly, distorted, dorsal, ecumenical, ecumenistic, errant, erring, erroneous, expansive, extended, extending, extensive, fallacious, false, far afield, far and near, far and wide, far-embracing, far-extending, far-flung, far-flying, far-going, far-ranging, far-reaching, faultful, faulty, featureless, flat, flawed, front, full, general, generalized, generic, generous, glide, glossal, glottal, guttural, hard, heavy, heretical, heterodox, high, illogical, illusory, indefinite, indeterminate, indiscriminate, infinite, intonated, labial, labiodental, labiovelar, large-scale, lateral, lax, liberal, light, lingual, liquid, low, mid, monophthongal, muted, narrow, nasal, nasalized, nebulous, neutral, noninsular, nonspecific, not right, not true, occlusive, off, off the track, open, out, oxytone, palatal, palatalized, peccant, perverse, perverted, pharyngeal, pharyngealized, phonemic, phonetic, phonic, pitch, pitched, posttonic, progressive, radical, retroflex, roomy, rounded, scopic, self-contradictory, semivowel, soft, sonant, spacious, spacious of mind, spreading, stopped, straying, stressed, strong, surd, sweeping, syllabic, tense, thick, throaty, tolerant, tonal, tonic, twangy, unaccented, unbigoted, uncharacterized, undifferentiated, unfactual, unfanatical, unhidebound, unorthodox, unparochial, unproved, unprovincial, unrounded, unspecified, unstressed, untrue, vague, vast, velar, vocalic, vocoid, voiced, voiceless, voluminous, vowel, vowellike, weak, wholesale, wide-extended, wide-extending, wide-minded, wide-ranging, wide-reaching, wide-stretching, widely, widespread, wrongROGET THESAURUS
wide
Thickness,
N breadth, thickness, breadth, width, latitude, amplitude, diameter, bore, caliber, radius, superficial extent, thickness, crassitude, corpulence, dilation, broad, wide, ample, extended, discous, fanlike, outspread, outstretched, wide as a church-door, latifoliate, latifolous, thick, dumpy, squab, squat, thickset, thick as a rope.For further exploring for "wide" in Webster Dictionary Online
