width
Pluralwidths
- 1The measurement of how far something extends from one side to the other.
The architect noted the width of the hallway on the blueprint.
Engineers calculated the bridge's width to ensure two lanes would fit.
Similarbreadth
- 2The condition or quality of being wide.
The width of the river impressed everyone who saw it for the first time.
Designers chose the sofa for the comfortable width of its seats.
Similarbreadth
Oppositenarrowness
Note
A late arrival, built in English from wide and the abstract-noun suffix -th. It surfaces only at the end of the 16th century and was unknown in Scots and in the traditional dialect of Northern England. That argues against a borrowing from Old Norse vídd, the Norse word for the same thing. At most, the resemblance is a nudge of analogy rather than a line of descent.
- 3A piece of material, especially fabric, measured along its smaller dimension.
The curtain required three widths of fabric stitched together.
A standard width of upholstery fabric runs about fifty-four inches.
Similarbreadth
- 4A team's use of the entire breadth of the field, spreading play from one side to the other.
Their wingers gave the side real width, dragging defenders toward the touchlines.
Attacking with width forced the opposition to spread thin across the field.
Note
A tactical noun shared by football and rugby, almost always uncountable and carried by set phrases. A side plays with width, and in rugby a team puts width on the ball, moving it quickly out toward the touchline. Ben Dirs's 2011 BBC Sport report on England against Georgia shows England doing exactly that after the restart, with Armitage nearly scoring in the corner.
Manchester United like to play with width.
England looked to put width on the ball after the restart.
- 5The sideways distance separating the batsman from the ball as it passes him.
The bowler offered too much width outside off stump, and the batsman punished it.
Denying the batsman any width, she kept the ball tight on the stumps.
Similarroom
Note
Here the word belongs to the bowler's mistakes and the batsman's opportunities. A delivery passing well wide of off stump gives the batsman room to free his arms, or the easy option of leaving it alone. It is usually uncountable and comes with fixed verbs: a bowler offers or allows width, and a disciplined spell is one that gives the batsman none.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of width apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
Formed from "wide" plus the abstract noun suffix "-th," possibly by analogy with Old Norse "vídd" ("width"), though this is thought unlikely, since the word is not attested before the end of the 16th century and was unknown in Scots and Northern English dialects where Old Norse influence would be strongest. It replaced Middle English "wide, wyde" ("width").