narrow
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈnæɹəʊ/
ipa: /ˈnæɹoʊ/
ipa: /ˈnɛ(ə)ɹoʊ/
rhymes: -æɹəʊ
Forms: form: narrower
form: narrowest
form: narrowe
Etymology: 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-West Germanic *naru, 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”), Saterland Frisian noar (“bleak, dismal, meager, ghastly, unwell”), Saterland Frisian Naarwe (“scar”), West Frisian near (“narrow”), Dutch naar (“dismal, bleak, ill, sick”), Low German naar (“dismal, ghastly”), German Nehrung (“spit, narrow peninsula”), Norwegian norve (“a clip, staple”), Icelandic njörva- (“narrow-”, in compounds).
Senses: examples: text: a narrow hallway
text: She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry.
ref: 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
text: Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field. A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that.
ref: 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:
glosses: Having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.
examples: text: The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a narrow compass in the world.
ref: 1675, John Wilkins, Of the Principles and Duties of Natural Religion:
glosses: Of little extent; very limited; circumscribed.
examples: text: a narrow interpretation
glosses: Restrictive; without flexibility or latitude.
examples: text: a narrow mind
text: narrow views
glosses: Contracted; of limited scope; bigoted
examples: text: a narrow escape
text: The Republicans won by a narrow majority.
text: Although we lost the election by the narrowest of margins, the people of Oregon heard a great deal about education, and particularly about how "look-say" reading instruction was hardshipping Oregon school children.
ref: 1970, Reading Reform Foundation, The Annual Reading Reform Foundation Conference, page 47:
text: […] it is unclear whether the beatings of potential political opponents are a governmentwide strategy or a narrower effort by Mr. Mugabe’s backers to shore up his remaining power.
ref: 2007 March 29, Michael Wines, “Zimbabwean Leaders Accused of Abducting Opponents”, in New York Times:
text: 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.
ref: 2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: Having a small margin or degree.
examples: text: narrow circumstances
glosses: Limited as to means; straitened
examples: text: a very narrow […] and stinted charity
ref: a. 1719, George Smalridge, The Hopes of a Recompense from Men must not be our chief Aim in doing Good:
glosses: Parsimonious; niggardly; covetous; selfish.
examples: text: But first with narrow search I must walk round / This garden, and no corner leave unspied.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: Scrutinizing in detail; close; accurate; exact.
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
phonetics
phonology
sciences
glosses: Formed (as a vowel) by a close position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate; or (according to Bell) by a tense condition of the pharynx; distinguished from wide.
examples: text: a narrow character; a narrow stream
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
antonyms: wide
glosses: Of or supporting only those text characters that can fit into the traditional 8-bit representation.
Synonyms: word: close
word: filamentous
word: fine
word: narrow
word: slender
word: slim
word: strait
word: thin
word: tight
Hypernyms: word: small
Derived terms: go narrow
narrow AI
narrow-angle lens
narrow artificial intelligence
narrowband
narrow bank
narrow banking
narrow-bellied seahorse
narrowboat
narrow boat
narrowbody
narrowcast
narrow cloth
narrow construction
narrow-cut
narrower
narrow escape
narrowfield
narrow-fisted
narrow-gage
narrow-gauge
narrow gauge
narrow-gutted
narrowhead
narrow house
narrowing
narrowish
narrowleaf
narrow-leaf ash
narrow-leaved mallee
narrow-leaved poison
narrow-minded
narrow minded
narrow mindedness
narrow-nosed rhino
narrow-nosed rhinoceros
narrow road
narrow sea
narrow-sighted
narrowsome
narrow-souled
narrow-spectrum
narrow squeak
narrow tailoring
narrow transcription
narrow-width effect
narrow-winged tree cricket
narrow work
overnarrow
straight and narrow
supernarrow
ultranarrow
unnarrow
Related terms: narrowly
narrowness