widen

From wide +‎ -en (verbal suffix).

• IPA^(key): /ˈwaɪdən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪdən

widen (third-person singular simple present widens, present participle widening, simple past and past participle widened)

1. (intransitive) To become wide or wider.

   His eyes widened as her negligee fell to the floor.

2. (transitive) To make wide or wider.
   • 2011 September 29, Tom Rostance, “Stoke 2 - 1 Besiktas”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     But he still saw his side produce a rousing display which owed much to their lauded prowess from set-pieces, despite Uefa regulations meaning the pitch had to be widened and, in the process, the run-up area for Delap's long throws reduced.

3. (transitive) To let out clothes to a larger size.

   She widened his trousers for him.

4. (transitive) To broaden or extend in scope or range.
   • 1976 December 18, “Connecticut Task”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 25, page 2:

     While the primary focus of the Sexual Orientation Committee had been to lobby for gay rights legislation, the new Task Force hopes to widen its activities. The Task Force ― in addition to lobbying — hopes to function as an "umbrella organization," facilitating communication between the state's many gay groups.

   • 2007 August 6, Leslie Feinberg, “Cuba's CENESEX proposes ground-breaking transsexual rights”, in Workers World‎^[2]:

     Correspondent Gerardo Arreola interviewed Castro Espín for the Jan. 9, 2006, issue of La Jornada about the move to widen rights for transsexuals.

   The police widened their enquiries.

5. (transitive, programming) To convert to a data type that can hold a larger number of distinct values.

   Antonym: narrow

   to widen a short variable to an int variable

• widen up
• widenable

• Edwin, Wedin, Wendi, dwine, indew, winde, wined