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narrow Definition

nar·row (nar′ō, ner′ō)

adjective

  1. small in width as compared to length; esp., less wide than is customary, standard, or expected; not wide
  2. limited in meaning, size, amount, or extent a narrow majority
  3. limited in outlook; without breadth of view or generosity; not liberal; prejudiced a narrow mind
  4. close; careful; minute; thorough a narrow inspection
  5. with limited margin; with barely enough space, time, etc.; barely successful a narrow escape
  6. limited in means; with hardly enough to live on narrow circumstances
  7. ☆ having a relatively high proportion of protein: said of livestock feed
  8. Dialectal stingy; parsimonious
  9. Phonet. tense: said of certain vowels

Etymology: ME narwe < OE nearu, akin to MDu nare, OS naru < IE base *(s)ner-, to turn, twist > snare, Gr narkē, stupor

intransitive verb

to decrease in width; contract the river narrows

transitive verb

to decrease or limit in width, extent, or scope; restrict to narrow an argument

noun

  1. a narrow part or place, esp. in a valley, mountain pass, road, etc.
  2. a narrow passage, as between two bodies of water; strait

narrow Related Forms
nar′·rowly adverb nar′·row·ness noun
narrow Idioms

The Narrows

strait between Upper & Lower New York Bay, separating Staten Island & Long Island

narrow Synonyms

narrow

modif.

  1. Lacking breadth

    close, cramped, tight, confined, shrunken, compressed, slender, thin, fine, linear, threadlike, tapering, tapered, slim, spare, scant, scanty, incapacious, attenuated, strait, coarctate, lanky, spindling, small, meager; see also restricted.

    Antonyms broad, wide, extensive.

  2. Lacking tolerance

    dogmatic, narrow-minded, parochial; see conservative, conventional 3, prejudiced.

  3. Lacking understanding

    ill-advised, imprudent, irrational; see stupid 1.

  4. Lacking a comfortable margin

    close, near, precarious; see dangerous 1, endangered, unsafe.

narrow Usage Examples

Object

  • gap: Close the Gap carries out a range of activity designed to encourage positive action to narrow the gender pay gap.
  • artery: Then the tip of the catheter is expanded like a tiny balloon in the blocked or narrowed coronary artery.
  • scope: As well, private firms seeking new investment and business opportunities also tried to narrow the scope of public agencies.
  • differential: They're working across regional boundaries to narrow the economic differential between North and South.
  • divide: By 2002, we'd got the footings in place for creating more successful towns and cities and narrowing the economic divide between regions.
  • search: Each works somewhat differently, most importantly in respect to how you broaden or narrow a search.

Modifies a noun

  • lane: The road then descends slightly to where a narrow lane joins from the left.
  • street: In the narrow medieval streets of the town, blessed with a wealth of historic houses, Plas Mawr reigns supreme.
  • strip: Living in a narrow coastal strip, they were busy traders, with little else to sustain them.
  • gage: Black Dog Mining Company - narrow gage industrial models.
  • boat: Enough of the blockage has been excavated on the tow-path side to allow the passage of narrow boats.
  • rift: The stream exits the chamber through a narrow rift.

Modifying Another Word

  • relatively: Each has a relatively narrow entry area which was free of LOS from the village.
  • too: The sink is not a good dig, being much too narrow.

Followed by an intransitive particle

  • down: These generic quotes will help you narrow down your list of possible mortgage lenders.

Followed by a transitive particle

  • down: He also uses the solar return to narrow down the time of death.

Infinitive complement

  • accommodate: Question 5. " Bedens Road is too narrow to accommodate an increase in traffic with the new development and cars will get damaged.

Preposition: in

  • scope: Similar to, but narrower in scope than teletrade ( see definition above ) Email.

Preposition: of

  • margin: An inferior goal average meant missing out on promotion by the narrowest of margins to Oldham Athletic.
  • artery: Angina is a symptom complex that results from myocardial ischemia; most commonly caused by narrowing of the coronary arteries.
narrow Quotes

Where the satyrs are chattering, nymphs with their flattering Glimpse of the forest enhance All the beauty of marrow and cucumber narrow And Ceres will join in the dance.

—Sitwell, Dame Edith Louisa

To divide a cube into two other cubes, a fourth power or in general any power whatever into two powers of the same denominationabovethesecond isimpossible, and Ihave assuredly found anadmirable proof of this, but the margin is too narrow to contain it.

—Fermat, Pierre de

He turned the old one-stringed instrument into a many- chorded lyre† W.G. discovered batting; he turned its many narrow straight channels into one great winding river.

—Ranjitsinhji, Prince

Virtue's his path; but sometimes 'tis too narrow For his vast soul; and then he starts out wide, And bounds into a vice.

—Dryden,John

Here is all straight and narrow as a tomb Oh shut me not within a little room.

—Smith, Stevie (Florence Margaret)