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narrow
[ nar-oh ]
adjective
- of little breadth or width; not broad or wide; not as wide as usual or expected:
a narrow path.
- limited in extent or space; affording little room:
narrow quarters.
- limited in range or scope:
a narrow sampling of public opinion.
- lacking breadth of view or sympathy, as persons, the mind, or ideas:
a narrow man, knowing only his professional specialty;
a narrow mind.
Synonyms: small-minded, shallow, limited, biased
- with little margin to spare; barely adequate or successful; close:
a narrow escape.
- careful, thorough, or minute, as a scrutiny, search, or inquiry.
narrow resources.
- characterized by limited means; straitened; impoverished:
Since work was scarce, he soon found himself in narrow circumstances.
- New England. stingy or parsimonious.
- Phonetics.
- (of a vowel) articulated with the tongue laterally constricted, as the ee of beet, the oo of boot, etc.; tense. Compare lax 1( def 7 ).
- (of a phonetic transcription) utilizing a unique symbol for each phoneme and whatever supplementary diacritics are needed to indicate its subphonemic varieties. Compare broad ( def 14 ).
- (of livestock feeds) proportionately rich in protein.
verb (used without object)
- to decrease in width or breadth:
This is where the road narrows.
verb (used with object)
- to make narrower.
- to limit or restrict (often followed by down ): to narrow down a contest to three competitors.
to narrow an area of search;
to narrow down a contest to three competitors.
- to make narrow-minded:
Living in that village has narrowed him.
noun
- a narrow part, place, or thing.
- a narrow part of a valley, passage, or road.
- narrows, (used with a singular or plural verb) a narrow part of a strait, river, ocean current, etc.
- the Narrows, a narrow strait from upper to lower New York Bay, between Staten Island and Long Island. 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) long; 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) wide.
narrow
/ ˈnærəʊ /
adjective
- small in breadth, esp in comparison to length
- limited in range or extent
- limited in outlook; lacking breadth of vision
- limited in means or resources; meagre
narrow resources
- barely adequate or successful (esp in the phrase a narrow escape )
- painstakingly thorough; minute
a narrow scrutiny
- finance denoting an assessment of liquidity as including notes and coin in circulation with the public, banks' till money, and banks' balances Compare broad
narrow money
- dialect.overcareful with money; parsimonious
- phonetics
- (of agricultural feeds) especially rich in protein
- narrow squeak informal.an escape only just managed
verb
- to make or become narrow; limit; restrict
noun
- a narrow place, esp a pass or strait
Derived Forms
- ˈnarrowness, noun
- ˈnarrowly, adverb
Other Words From
- nar·row·ly adverb
- nar·row·ness noun
- o·ver·nar·row adjective
- o·ver·nar·row·ly adverb
- o·ver·nar·row·ness noun
- un·nar·row adjective
- un·nar·row·ly adverb
- un·nar·rowed adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of narrow1
Word History and Origins
Origin of narrow1
Idioms and Phrases
In addition to the idiom beginning with narrow , see straight and narrow .Example Sentences
Google’s proposed fixes are more narrow than what the DOJ suggested.
Matt Haney, a Democratic Assembly member from San Francisco, did a weave and a bob as he navigated the narrow straits.
The 26-year-old took the first set and fought back after going 2-1 down to avenge his narrow defeat to Smith at the same stage last year.
In election terms, Postecoglou was heading for a landslide at 3-0 up after 54 minutes but ended up having to gratefully settle for a narrow majority.
To put the connection between resorts in simplest terms, Big Bear Mountain Resorts advertising and public relations director Justin Kanton said, “we’re talking about a narrow ravine with two lifts coming in and out.”
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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