widened; widening
ˈwīd-niŋ 
ˈwī-dᵊn-iŋ
: to increase the width, scope, or extent of
widen a road
widen an investigation
: to become wide or wider
a widening gap
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
The gap between what Goldman Sachs Group Inc. pays men and women in its UK workforce widened to its highest level in six years, underlining the difficulties the Wall Street giant has had in retaining and attracting top female talent.
—
Tom Metcalf, Fortune Europe, 4 Apr. 2024
The dissatisfaction is partly a byproduct of the pandemic and the widening political divisions that have seen schools becoming battlegrounds.
—Belinda Luscombe, TIME, 4 Apr. 2024
Here are my favorite mix-and-match separates that suit any type of trip itinerary — both work and play — along with some must-have accessories that'll widen your wardrobe horizons.
—Jean Chen Smith, Travel + Leisure, 3 Apr. 2024
And those fault lines have dramatically widened in the three surveys Marquette conducted over the past year (one in the summer of 2023, one in the fall of 2023, and one in late January of this year).
—Craig Gilbert, Journal Sentinel, 2 Apr. 2024
The rest of the lineup went 1-for-19, the one hit being a three-run homer from Teoscar Hernandez, which drove in Smith and Freeman, sending a slider from Tyler Rogers deep into the left field seats to break the game open, widening the Dodgers’ advantage to 6-1 in the sixth inning.
—Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 2 Apr. 2024
Madrid is currently way ahead of the pack, and Hernandez expects the gap to widen if Kylian Mbappe joins from PSG this summer.
—Tom Sanderson, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
To prevent future tragedies, engineers increased the structure’s height and widened the channel beneath it.
—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Mar. 2024
The changes happening now were as dramatic as any that had occurred since the tidal inlet known as the Gowanus Creek was widened, deepened, and originally lined with bulkheads in the nineteenth century.
—Eric Lach, The New Yorker, 26 Mar. 2024
Tom Metcalf, Fortune Europe, 4 Apr. 2024
The dissatisfaction is partly a byproduct of the pandemic and the widening political divisions that have seen schools becoming battlegrounds.
—Belinda Luscombe, TIME, 4 Apr. 2024
Here are my favorite mix-and-match separates that suit any type of trip itinerary — both work and play — along with some must-have accessories that'll widen your wardrobe horizons.
—Jean Chen Smith, Travel + Leisure, 3 Apr. 2024
And those fault lines have dramatically widened in the three surveys Marquette conducted over the past year (one in the summer of 2023, one in the fall of 2023, and one in late January of this year).
—Craig Gilbert, Journal Sentinel, 2 Apr. 2024
The rest of the lineup went 1-for-19, the one hit being a three-run homer from Teoscar Hernandez, which drove in Smith and Freeman, sending a slider from Tyler Rogers deep into the left field seats to break the game open, widening the Dodgers’ advantage to 6-1 in the sixth inning.
—Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 2 Apr. 2024
Madrid is currently way ahead of the pack, and Hernandez expects the gap to widen if Kylian Mbappe joins from PSG this summer.
—Tom Sanderson, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
To prevent future tragedies, engineers increased the structure’s height and widened the channel beneath it.
—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Mar. 2024
The changes happening now were as dramatic as any that had occurred since the tidal inlet known as the Gowanus Creek was widened, deepened, and originally lined with bulkheads in the nineteenth century.
—Eric Lach, The New Yorker, 26 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'widen.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near widen
Cite this Entry
“Widen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/widen. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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