wide
Pluralwides
- 1Measuring a large distance from one side to the other; also, extending over a great area; vast.
The hallway was wide enough for two carts to pass at once.
A wide gap separated the two rock faces.
UsageGoes after a measurement: ten feet wide. Also common in wide enough to do something.
Oppositenarrow
Note
In Old English the word could also mean "vast" and "distant," the seed of the obsolete "far off" sense.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Wide descends from Old English wīd, which could mean vast and distant. en.wiktionary.org
- Wide formerly had a sense meaning far off or distant, now obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
- 2Covering a large range of subjects, areas, or concerns.
The report addressed a wide variety of social issues.
His interests are remarkably wide, from physics to poetry.
UsageCommon with range, variety and array: a wide range of toys, a wide variety of issues.
Similarbroad, extensive, diverse, varied
Note
The comparative suggests reaching further than before. In wider acceptance, nothing has a physical side at all, only a circle of people or ideas that has grown.
- 3So as to leave a large space between the sides, or to form a big opening.
The children flung the doors wide and ran outside.
He spread his arms wide to catch the falling box.
UsageUsually after verbs like open, fling or spread: open the window wide.
- 4Over a large area or to many places; extensively.
Traders carried the spice far and wide along the coast.
Fans came from far and wide to watch the final game.
UsageMostly in far and wide. Elsewhere, widely is usual: her books are widely read.
Similarfar, extensively
- 5Away from or to one side of a target, so as to miss it.
The striker's shot sailed wide of the right post.
Her throw went wide, landing well left of the basket.
UsageUse go wide, or wide of plus the target: the shot went wide of the post.
Similarastray
Note
The adjective for an off-line ball delivers the same verdict as a judgment after the fact, as in "that was wide."
- 6Positioned or operating at the side of the playing area rather than the center.
The winger stayed wide to stretch the defense.
Playing wide gave him room to cross the ball.
UsageAfter stay or play, or before a noun: stay wide, a wide player.
Note
Team sports use it as a positional label. It names where a player works, not an error: a player who stays wide is doing the job. The "off target" adverb describes a shot or throw that has failed.
Less common meanings
- 7Completely or fully.
The toddler was wide awake and full of energy at dawn.
With three strong candidates and no clear favorite, the election is wide open.
UsageMostly in fixed pairs: wide awake, wide open.
Similarfully, completely
- 8Of a shot, throw, or delivery, passing too far to one side of the mark, especially of the wicket or batter in cricket.
The bowler's line was too wide for the batter to reach.
Several balls were wide of the off stump.
Note
Bow and arrow lie behind the older uses. Edmund Spenser, writing in 1596, borrows an archer who "shoots wide on the Bow-Hand" to fault a guess. In Middleton, Rowley and Massinger's The Old Law (1656), a speaker owns up to a near miss: he was "but two bows wide." The same verdict now falls on a tennis passing shot or a delivery to the batsman, and the cricket noun a wide grows from it.
- 9In cricket, a delivery passing too far from the batter to be playable; also the umpire's signal for it and the extra run it adds to the score.
The umpire signaled a wide as the ball sped past the leg side.
Extra wides pushed the total beyond two hundred.
Note
One noun covers three things in cricket: the unplayable ball, the umpire's arm signal that calls it, and the extra run it adds to the batting side's score. It is the off-line adjective made into a thing that can be counted.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The cricket noun denotes an unplayable delivery. en.wiktionary.org
- The noun also denotes the umpire's arm signal. en.wiktionary.org
- A wide adds one extra run to the batting team's score. en.wikipedia.org
- 10Overweight or obese, used mockingly or as a joke.
His old teammates teased him for getting wide around the middle.
She laughed that the bulky sweater made her look wide.
Similarfat, chubby, heavy, big
Note
Here the everyday measure of width is turned on the body, and the result is slang. It is double-edged: it can be a joke, but its force is derogatory.
- 11Of a vowel, produced with a less tense, more open and relaxed position of the mouth.
Note
Older phonetic description used it to sort vowels by how relaxed and open the mouth is. Its natural opposite was a tenser articulation. The term is now dated, and the same contrast is usually framed as tense versus lax.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Older phonetic descriptions used wide for vowels produced with relatively relaxed, open articulation. en.wikisource.org
- The historical opposite of wide was narrow, describing tenser articulation. en.wikipedia.org
- 12Located some distance away; far or distant.
Mr Hunt's house, you know, lies wide from Harlowe-place.
1748, [Samuel Richardson], ClarissaNote
Distance is a meaning the word carried from Old English on: wīd meant "distant, far" as well as "broad," from a root meaning "to separate, divide." It paired with from, as when a house lies wide from Harlowe-place in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa (1747–48).
- 13Far from the truth, what is proper, or what is necessary.
How wide is all this long pretence!
[1633], George Herbert, The Temple. Sacred PoemsAnd I trust anon by the help of an infallible guide, to perfect such Prutenic tables, as shall mend the astronomy of our wide expositors.
1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine and Discipline of DivorceNote
Here physical distance becomes error, the figurative twin of the obsolete "distant" sense. It could describe people as well as claims: John Milton's The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643) mocks "our wide expositors," and Hugh Latimer intensifies it as "farre wyde" in 1549. As a standalone adjective it is obsolete, but the image survives in the off-target sense, as in a guess wide of the mark.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Wide had an obsolete sense meaning distant. en.wiktionary.org
- John Milton wrote The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, first published in 1643. christs.cam.ac.uk
- Milton used the words “our wide expositors” critically, applying wide to people. droitromain.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr
- Latimer used the exact spelling “farre wyde”. en.wiktionary.org
- Latimer used the expression in a sermon preached in 1549. anglicanhistory.org
- 14Supporting a larger set of text characters than the traditional 8-bit representation could hold.
- 15Sharp-witted; clever and quick-thinking.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English wid, from Old English wīd ("wide, vast, broad; distant, far"), from Proto-Germanic *wīdaz and ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to separate, divide." It is related to German weit and Dutch wijd, and connected to the word widow.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Wide descends through Middle English wid from Old English wīd, with the stated meanings. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English wīd derives from Proto-Germanic *wīdaz. en.wiktionary.org
- The ultimate reconstructed Indo-European root means to separate or divide. en.wiktionary.org
- German weit and Dutch wijd share the Proto-Germanic ancestor of wide. en.wiktionary.org
- Wide is etymologically connected to widow. en.wiktionary.org