widen

verb

wid·​en ˈwī-dᵊn 

widened; widening ˈwīd-niŋ 

ˈwī-dᵊn-iŋ

transitive verb

: to increase the width, scope, or extent of

widen a road

widen an investigation

intransitive verb

: to become wide or wider

a widening gap

widener

ˈwīd-nər 

ˈwī-dᵊn-ər

noun

Examples of widen in a Sentence

The city is going to widen the road.

They plan to widen the investigation.

Her eyes widened in surprise.

They went swimming at a spot where the river widens.

The scope of the investigation has widened.

Recent Examples on the Web

For first-generation students, the freshman four-year graduation rate improved from 61% to 66% during the same time, meaning the gap with the overall rate has widened by 1 percentage point in this time. — Tarini Mehta, Sacbee.com, 22 July 2026

The blast radius from Chinese open-weight model Kimi K3 continues to widen. — Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 22 July 2026

The unexpected breakout from Steve Lacy’s Grammy-winning Gemini Rights widened the scope of his ditzy, talky demos while hanging onto the looseness of a guy freestyling in his childhood bedroom. — Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 22 July 2026

Margins The company forecasts the gross margin dilution from the ramp-up of overseas fabs in the next several years to be 2% to 3% in the early stages, widening to 3% to 4% in the latter stages, Huang said. — Kai Nicol-Schwarz, CNBC, 22 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1566, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for widen

• poseidon

Kids Definition

widen

verb

wid·​en ˈwīd-ᵊn 

widened; widening ˈwīd-niŋ 

-ᵊn-iŋ

: to make or become wide or wider : broaden