# width

Pronunciation: say "WITTH" /ˈwɪtθ/

## Noun

1. The measurement of how far something extends from one side to the other.
   - Simple: How far something measures 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._
2. The condition or quality of being wide.
   - Simple: The quality of being wide rather than narrow.
   - _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._
3. A piece of material, especially fabric, measured along its smaller dimension.
   - Simple: A piece of cloth measured across its shorter side.
   - _The curtain required three widths of fabric stitched together._
   - _A standard width of upholstery fabric runs about fifty-four inches._
4. A team's use of the entire breadth of the field, spreading play from one side to the other.
   - Simple: Using the whole space across the field, 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._
5. The sideways distance separating the batsman from the ball as it passes him.
   - Simple: The sideways gap between the batsman and the ball as it goes past.
   - _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._

## 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").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/width (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).