narrow

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Contents

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English narow, narowe, narewe, narwe, naru, from Old English nearu (“narrow, strait, confined, constricted, not spacious, limited, petty; limited, poor, restricted; oppressive, causing anxiety (of that which restricts free action of body or mind), causing or accompanied by difficulty, hardship, oppressive; oppressed, not having free action; strict, severe”), from Proto-Germanic *narwaz (“constricted, narrow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ner- (“to turn, bend, twist, constrict”). Cognate with Scots naro, narow, narrow (“narrow”), North Frisian naar, noar, noor (“narrow”), West Frisian near (“narrow”), Dutch naar (“dismal, bleak, ill, sick”), Low German naar (“dismal, ghastly”), German Narbe (“a closed wound, scar”), Norwegian norve (“a clip, staple”), Icelandic njörva- (“narrow-”, in compounds).

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

narrow (comparative narrower, superlative narrowest)

  1. Having a small width; not wide; slim; slender; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, The China Governess[1]:
      Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.
    a narrow hallway
  2. (figuratively) Restrictive; without flexibility or latitude.
    a narrow interpretation
  3. Having a small margin or degree.
    • 2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, BBC Sport:
      As in their narrow defeat of Argentina last week, England were indisciplined at the breakdown, and if Georgian fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili had remembered his kicking boots, Johnson's side might have been behind at half-time.

Antonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

having a small width

Verb[edit]

narrow (third-person singular simple present narrows, present participle narrowing, simple past and past participle narrowed)

  1. (transitive) To reduce in width or extent; to contract.
    We need to narrow the search.
  2. (intransitive) To get narrower.
    The road narrows.

Translations[edit]

to reduce in width or extent
to get narrower

Noun[edit]

narrow (plural narrows)

  1. (chiefly in the plural) A narrow passage, especially a contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea; a strait connecting two bodies of water.
    the Narrows of New York harbor
    • Gladstone
      Near the island lay on one side the jaws of a dangerous narrow.
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