wide

English

Etymology

From Middle English wid, wyd, from Old English wīd (“wide, vast, broad, long; distant, far”), from Proto-Germanic *wīdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wī- (“apart, asunder, in two”), from Proto-Indo-European *weye- (“to drive, separate”). Cognate with Scots wyd, wid (“of great extent; vast”), West Frisian wiid (“broad; wide”), Dutch wijd (“wide; large; broad”), German weit (“far; wide; broad”), Swedish vid (“wide”), Icelandic víður (“wide”), Latin dīvidō (“separate, sunder”), Latin vītō (“avoid, shun”). Related to widow.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /waɪd/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -aɪd

Adjective

wide (comparative wider, superlative widest)

1. Having a large physical extent from side to side.

   We walked down a wide corridor.

2. Large in scope.

   The inquiry had a wide remit.

3. (sports) Operating at the side of the playing area.

   That team needs a decent wide player.

4. (tennis) (speaking of the ball) that bounces off the authorized court limits, referring to the horizontal dimension (and therefore is out).
   • Too bad! That what a great passing-shot, but it's wide.

Antonyms

• narrow (regarding empty area)
• thin (regarding occupied area)
• skinny (sometimes offensive, regarding body width)

Related terms

• widely
• widen
• wideness
• widescale
• width
• wide awake
• wide of the mark

• wide open
• wide receiver
• wide shot
• wide-angle
• wide-eyed
• widescreen
• widespread
• worldwide

Translations

having a large physical extent from side to side

• Albanian: gjerë
• Arabic: واسع (ar) (wāsiʿ)
• Armenian: լայն (hy) (layn)
• Aromanian: largu (rup)
• Belarusian: шырокі (be) (šyróki)
• Breton: ledan (br)
• Bulgarian: широк (bg) (širók)
• Burmese: ကျယ် (my) (kyè)
• Catalan: ample
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 寬 (cmn), 宽 (cmn) (kuān), 寬廣的 (cmn), 宽广的 (cmn) (kuānguǎng de), 寬闊的 (cmn), 宽阔的 (cmn) (kuānkuò de)

• Cornish: ledan (kw)
• Czech: široký (cs)
• Dalmatian: luarc
• Danish: bred (da)
• Dutch: wijd (nl), breed (nl)
• Esperanto: larĝa (eo)
• Estonian: lai (et)
• Finnish: leveä (fi), laaja (fi)
• French: large (fr), grand (fr)
• Friulian: larc
• Galician: largo (gl), ancho (gl)
• German: breit (de), (poetic) weit (de)
• Greek: ευρύς (el) (ev̱rýs) m, ευρεία (el) (ev̱reía) f
• Hebrew: רחב (he) (rakhav)
• Hindi: चौड़ा (hi) (cauṛā)
• Hungarian: széles (hu)
• Icelandic: breiður (is), víður (is)
• Ido: larja (io)
• Irish: leathan (ga), fairsing (ga)

  Old Irish: lethan

• Italian: largo (it), ampio (it)
• Japanese: 広い (ja) (ひろい, hiroi), 幅広い (ja) (はばひろい, habahiroi)
• Jèrriais: large m and f
• Khmer: ល្ហ (km) (lhɑɑ)
• Korean: 넓은 (ko) (neolbeun), 넓다 (ko) (neoldda)
• Kurdish: pan, pehn, fire, berfire, پان

• Latgalian: plots
• Latvian: plats (lv)
• Lithuanian: platus (lt)
• Low German: breed (nds), breet (nds)
• Macedonian: широк (mk) (šírok)
• Malay: lebar (ms)
• Norwegian: vid (no), bred (no)
• Occitan: larg (oc)
• Old English: wīd (ang), sīd (ang)
• Persian: پهن (fa) (pahn), گسترده (fa) (gostarde)
• Pitjantjatjara: lipi
• Polish: szeroki (pl)
• Portuguese: largo (pt), amplo (pt)
• Rapa Nui: lau
• Romanian: larg (ro), lat (ro)
• Romansch: lartg (rm)
• Russian: широкий (ru) (širókij)
• Sardinian: lalgu (sc)
• Scottish Gaelic: leathann (gd), farsaing (gd), (of specified width) a leud (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шѝрок (sh)

  Roman: šìrok (sh)

• Sicilian: largu (scn)
• Slovak: široký (sk)
• Slovene: širok (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: šyroki

• Spanish: ancho (es), amplio (es)
• Swedish: vid (sv)
• Telugu: వెడల్పైన (veDalpaina)
• Thai: กว้างใหญ่ (th) (gwâang yài)
• Turkish: vasi (tr)
• Ukrainian: широкий (uk) (šyrókyj)
• Urdu: چوڑا (ur) (cauṛā)
• Vietnamese: rộng (vi)
• Volapük: vidik (vo)
• Welsh: llydan (cy)
• West Frisian: breed (fy), wiid (fy)

Adverb

wide (comparative wider, superlative widest)

1. extensively

   He travelled far and wide.

2. completely

   He was wide awake.

3. away from a given goal

   The arrow fell wide of the mark.

   • 2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, BBC:

     The Reds carved the first opening of the second period as Glen Johnson's pull-back found David Ngog but the Frenchman hooked wide from six yards.

Translations

extensively

• Czech: široko (cs) ("široko daleko" = "far and wide")
• Finnish: laajasti (fi)
• Italian: largo (it) m

• Norwegian: vidt (no), bredt (no)
• Swahili: pana (sw)

completely (with awake)

• Finnish: täysin (fi)
• Norwegian: vid (no)

• Swahili: pana (sw)

away from the given goal

• Finnish: ohi (fi)

• Swahili: pana (sw)

Noun

wide (plural wides)

1. (cricket) A ball that passes so far from the batsman that the umpire deems it unplayable; the arm signal used by an umpire to signal a wide; the extra run added to the batting side's score

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Old English

Etymology

From wīd.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /wiː.de/

Adverb

wīde

1. widely