narrow

[ nar-oh ]

adjective

, nar·row·er, nar·row·est.

1. of little breadth or width; not broad or wide; not as wide as usual or expected:

   a narrow path.

2. limited in extent or space; affording little room:

   narrow quarters.

3. limited in range or scope:

   a narrow sampling of public opinion.

4. lacking breadth of view or sympathy, as persons, the mind, or ideas:

   a narrow man, knowing only his professional specialty;

   a narrow mind.

   Synonyms: small-minded, shallow, limited, biased

5. with little margin to spare; barely adequate or successful; close:

   a narrow escape.

6. careful, thorough, or minute, as a scrutiny, search, or inquiry.
7. limited in amount; small; meager:

   narrow resources.

8. characterized by limited means; straitened; impoverished:

   Since work was scarce, he soon found himself in narrow circumstances.

9. New England. stingy or parsimonious.
10. Phonetics.
    1. (of a vowel) articulated with the tongue laterally constricted, as the ee of beet, the oo of boot, etc.; tense. Compare lax ¹( def 7 ).
    2. (of a phonetic transcription) utilizing a unique symbol for each phoneme and whatever supplementary diacritics are needed to indicate its subphonemic varieties. Compare broad ( def 14 ).
11. (of livestock feeds) proportionately rich in protein.

verb (used without object)

1. to decrease in width or breadth:

   This is where the road narrows.

verb (used with object)

1. to make narrower.
2. to limit or restrict (often followed by down ): to narrow down a contest to three competitors.

   to narrow an area of search;

   to narrow down a contest to three competitors.

3. to make narrow-minded:

   Living in that village has narrowed him.

noun

1. a narrow part, place, or thing.
2. a narrow part of a valley, passage, or road.
3. narrows, (used with a singular or plural verb) a narrow part of a strait, river, ocean current, etc.
4. the Narrows, a narrow strait from upper to lower New York Bay, between Staten Island and Long Island. 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) long; 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) wide.

narrow

/ ˈnærəʊ /

adjective

1. small in breadth, esp in comparison to length
2. limited in range or extent
3. limited in outlook; lacking breadth of vision
4. limited in means or resources; meagre

   narrow resources

5. barely adequate or successful (esp in the phrase a narrow escape )
6. painstakingly thorough; minute

   a narrow scrutiny

7. finance denoting an assessment of liquidity as including notes and coin in circulation with the public, banks' till money, and banks' balances Compare broad

   narrow money

8. dialect.
   overcareful with money; parsimonious
9. phonetics
   1. another word for tense 1
   2. relating to or denoting a transcription used to represent phonetic rather than phonemic distinctions
   3. another word for close 1
10. (of agricultural feeds) especially rich in protein
11. narrow squeak informal.
    an escape only just managed

verb

1. to make or become narrow; limit; restrict

noun

1. a narrow place, esp a pass or strait

Derived Forms

• ˈnarrowness, noun
• ˈnarrowly, adverb

Other Words From

• nar·row·ly adverb
• nar·row·ness noun
• o·ver·nar·row adjective
• o·ver·nar·row·ly adverb
• o·ver·nar·row·ness noun
• un·nar·row adjective
• un·nar·row·ly adverb
• un·nar·rowed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of narrow¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English narw(e), nareu(e), narow(e), Old English nearu (inflectional stem nearw- ), cognate with Old Saxon naru “narrow,” Dutch naar “dismal, unpleasant,” Old Saxon naro, naru “narrow, depressing”; possibly akin to German Narbe “scar,” literally, “narrow mark”

Word History and Origins

Origin of narrow¹

Old English nearu; related to Old Saxon naru

Idioms and Phrases

In addition to the idiom beginning with narrow , see straight and narrow .

Example Sentences

Borthwick's side have lost five of their past six matches, including narrow defeats by New Zealand and Australia this autumn.

From BBC

Public space and support for LGBTQ+ communities are narrowing in China.

From Los Angeles Times

England have lost their past four matches, including narrow defeats in their opening two autumn Tests against New Zealand and Australia.

From BBC

Meanwhile, the president-elect keeps chipping away at those narrow congressional majorities.

From BBC

That point was secured in their last game, a 0-0 draw at home to leaders Portugal, which followed narrow defeats by Poland at Hampden and away to Portugal and Croatia.

From BBC

Related Words

• diminish
• limit
• tighten