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REFERENCE

wide

adj.
A2 Elementary Oxford US //ˈwaɪd// UK //wˈaɪd// wide Archaic General-service Humorous Slang Vulgar

adj. measuring a large distance from one side to the other. You use this to describe things like roads, rivers, or even a person's smile.

adj. having a great or specified extent from side to side. Often used to describe physical dimensions or a broad range of abstract items.


SIMPLE

The river is very wide at this point.

CONTEXTUAL

The new highway is wide enough to accommodate four lanes of heavy traffic.

COMPLEX

The candidate's wide experience in international law made her the ideal choice for the diplomatic mission to the United Nations.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Origin

PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English wid, wyd, from Old English wīd (“wide, vast, broad, long; distant, far”), from Proto-Germanic wīdaz, from Proto-Indo-European h₁weydʰh₁- (“to divide, separate”), a dissimilated univerbation from dwi- (“apart, asunder, in two”) + dʰeh₁- (“to do, put, place”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian widj (“wide”), Saterland Frisian wied (“wide”), West Frisian wiid (“broad; wide”), Central Franconian weck, weit, wick, wiet (“distant, far, wide”), Dutch wijd (“wide; large; broad”), German weit (“far; wide; broad”), Luxembourgish weit (“wide”), wäit (“far”), Yiddish ווײַט (vayt, “distant, far”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish vid (“wide”), Faroese and Icelandic víður (“wide”); also Breton gwez (“trees”), Cornish gwedh, gwëdh, gwydh, gwÿdh (“trees”), Irish and Scottish Gaelic fiodh (“timber, wood”), Manx fuygh (“timber, wood”), Welsh gwŷdd (“trees”), Latin dīvidō (“to divide, separate”), Latgalian vyds (“middle”), Latvian vidus (“center, middle”), Lithuanian vidùs (“interior, inside; inward”), Tocharian A and Tocharian B wätk- (“to distinguish, separate”). Related to widow.

Usage

Typically placed before the noun it modifies or after a linking verb like 'be'. When used with measurements, it follows the unit of length (e.g., 'three meters wide').

Idioms7 entries

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