narrow

Formsnarrower, narrowest

Formsnarrows, narrowing, narrowed

Pluralnarrows

1. 1
   adjective

   Having only a small distance between opposite sides, especially compared with length or depth.

   The river flows through a narrow gorge between steep cliffs.

   Medieval towns often had narrow streets winding between tall buildings.

   Similartight, thin, slender, cramped

   Oppositewide, broad

   Note

   The physical sense the others grow from: Old English nearu, which already reached from "strait, confined" to "petty", "poor" and "oppressive". It measures width against length or depth, so it suits long, thin things like a hallway, a lane between buildings or a gorge. It does not suit things that are merely small. The same measure carries into a photographer's narrow depth of field and into eyes described as narrow.

2. 2
   adjective

   Small in extent; very limited in range or scope.

   The committee's narrow remit covered only budget questions.

   His narrow band of expertise made him hard to reassign.

   Similarlimited, restricted, small

   Oppositebroad, wide, extensive

3. 3
   adjective

   Involving only a small margin or degree of difference.

   The bill passed by a narrow majority of three votes.

   He held a narrow lead going into the last lap.

   Similarslim, slender, small, bare

   Oppositecomfortable, wide, large

   Note

   Here the narrowness is a margin, not a measurement. The sense settles into fixed pairings: a narrow escape, a narrow majority, and the superlative idiom by the narrowest of margins, used of elections won or lost by very little. Each describes how close a result came to going the other way. None describes how small the thing itself was.

4. 4
   adjectivefiguratively

   Restrictive; allowing little flexibility or room for choice.

   The judge favored a narrow reading of the statute.

   The narrow guidelines gave staff almost no discretion.

   Similarstrict, restrictive, rigid, literal

   Oppositebroad, liberal, loose, flexible

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To reduce something in width or extent; to contract it.

   The city narrowed the lane to slow down traffic.

   Editors must narrow the topic before they start writing.

   Similarrestrict, limit, reduce, constrict, contract

   Oppositewiden, broaden, expand

   Note

   The verb was built from the noun, through Middle English narwen. In this use it takes an object: you narrow a lane, a topic or a search. Figurative objects sit as easily as physical ones, so narrowing a search cuts its scope, not its width. Its intransitive partner drops the object altogether, so the road simply narrows.

6. 6
   verbintransitive

   To become narrower.

   The valley narrows sharply near the falls.

   Mountain passes narrow where the cliffs close in.

   Similartaper, contract, constrict

   Oppositewiden, broaden

7. 7
   verbtransitive

   To partly lower the eyelids, usually suggesting a defensive, aggressive, or searching look.

   He narrowed his eyes, studying the stranger's face.

   Suspicious guards narrow their eyes at anyone who lingers.

   Similarsquint

   Oppositewiden

   Note

   The eyes are always involved, in one of two constructions. Either a person narrows them, as in narrowing his eyes to slits, or the eyes do it themselves: her eyes narrowed. Adding to slits pushes the gesture further. Writers use it as shorthand for suspicion, hostility or sharp attention, so the gesture usually carries the mood without an adverb to explain it.

8. 8
   nouncountableplural

   A constricted passage of water, especially the contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea joining two larger bodies.

   Strong currents race through the narrows between the two islands.

   Fishermen know every rock in the narrows near the harbor.

   Similarstrait, channel

   Note

   Usually plural even for a single passage: the narrows of New York harbor names one place. The singular has its own life too. Gladstone, in Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age (1858), writes of "the jaws of a dangerous narrow". As a place name the plural takes the, much as straits does.

9. 9
   adjective

   Examining something closely and in detail; precise and exact.

   Her narrow examination of the accounts uncovered every discrepancy.

   The inspector's narrow scrutiny of the contract missed nothing.

   Similarclose, careful, thorough, meticulous, minute

   Oppositecursory, superficial

   Note

   Milton's "narrow search" in Paradise Lost (1667) is a search that leaves no corner unspied. It is close and exacting, not small. A modern reader can easily take the phrase the other way, because narrowing a search now means cutting down its scope, as in the verb of reducing. Outside older or literary prose, close or careful carries this meaning more safely.

10. 10
    adjectivecontracted

    Form of limited scope.

    His narrow prejudices colored every judgment he made.

    The narrow bigotry of that era shocks readers today.

    Similarintolerant, parochial, insular, blinkered

    Oppositetolerant, liberal

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