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nar⋅row

  [nar-oh] adjective, -er, -est, verb, noun
Use narrow in a Sentence
–adjective
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.
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. straitened; impoverished: narrow circumstances.
9. New England. stingy or parsimonious.
10. Phonetics.
a. (of a vowel) articulated with the tongue laterally constricted, as the ee of beet, the oo of boot, etc.; tense. Compare lax (def. 7).
b. (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)
12. to decrease in width or breadth: This is where the road narrows.
–verb (used with object)
13. to make narrower.
14. to limit or restrict (often fol. by down): to narrow an area of search; to narrow down a contest to three competitors.
15. to make narrow-minded: Living in that village has narrowed him.
–noun
16. a narrow part, place, or thing.
17. a narrow part of a valley, passage, or road.
18. narrows, (used with a singular or plural verb) a narrow part of a strait, river, ocean current, etc.
19. The Narrows, a narrow strait from upper to lower New York Bay, between Staten Island and Long Island. 2 mi. (3.2 km) long; 1 mi. (1.6 km) wide.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE nearu; c. OS naru narrow, D naar unpleasant; akin to G Narbe scar, lit., narrow mark

Related forms:
nar⋅row⋅ly, adverb
nar⋅row⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
4. biased, limited, shallow, small-minded.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To narrow
nar·row   (nār'ō)   
adj.   nar·row·er, nar·row·est
  1. Of small or limited width, especially in comparison with length.
  2. Limited in area or scope; cramped.
  3. Lacking flexibility; rigid: narrow opinions.
  4. Barely sufficient; close: a narrow margin of victory.
  5. Painstakingly thorough or attentive; meticulous: narrow scrutiny.
  6. Linguistics Tense.
v.   nar·rowed, nar·row·ing, nar·rows

v.   tr.
  1. To reduce in width or extent; make narrower.
  2. To limit or restrict: narrowed the possibilities down to three.
v.   intr.
To become narrower; contract.
n.  
  1. A part of little width, as a pass through mountains.
  2. narrows (used with a sing. or pl. verb)
    1. A body of water with little width that connects two larger bodies of water.
    2. A part of a river or an ocean current that is not wide.

[Middle English narwe, from Old English nearu.]
nar'row·ish adj., nar'row·ly adv., nar'row·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Narrow

Nar"row\, a. [Compar. Narrower; superl. Narrowest.] [OE. narwe, naru, AS. nearu; akin to OS. naru, naro.]

1. Of little breadth; not wide or broad; having little distance from side to side; as, a narrow board; a narrow street; a narrow hem.

Hath passed in safety through the narrow seas. --Shak.

2. Of little extent; very limited; circumscribed.

The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a narrow compass in the world. --Bp. Wilkins.

3. Having but a little margin; having barely sufficient space, time, or number, etc.; close; near; -- with special reference to some peril or misfortune; as, a narrow shot; a narrow escape; a narrow majority. --Dryden.

4. Limited as to means; straitened; pinching; as, narrow circumstances.

5. Contracted; of limited scope; illiberal; bigoted; as, a narrow mind; narrow views. "A narrow understanding." --Macaulay.

6. Parsimonious; niggardly; covetous; selfish.

A very narrow and stinted charity. --Smalridge.

7. Scrutinizing in detail; close; accurate; exact.

But first with narrow search I must walk round This garden, and no corner leave unspied. --Milton.

8. (Phon.) 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; as [=e] ([=e]ve) and [=oo] (f[=oo]d), etc., from [i^] ([i^]ll) and [oo^] (f[oo^]t), etc. See Guide to Pronunciation, [sect] 13.

Note: Narrow is not unfrequently prefixed to words, especially to participles and adjectives, forming compounds of obvious signification; as, narrow-bordered, narrow-brimmed, narrow-breasted, narrow-edged, narrow-faced, narrow-headed, narrow-leaved, narrow-pointed, narrow-souled, narrow-sphered, etc.

Narrow gauge. (Railroad) See Note under Gauge, n., 6.

Narrow

Nar"row\, n.; pl. Narrows. A narrow passage; esp., a contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea; a strait connecting two bodies of water; -- usually in the plural; as, The Narrows of New York harbor.

Near the island lay on one side the jaws of a dangerous narrow. --Gladstone.

Narrow

Nar"row\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Narrowed; p. pr. & vb. n. Narrowing.] [AS. nearwian.]

1. To lessen the breadth of; to contract; to draw into a smaller compass; to reduce the width or extent of. --Sir W. Temple.

2. To contract the reach or sphere of; to make less liberal or more selfish; to limit; to confine; to restrict; as, to narrow one's views or knowledge; to narrow a question in discussion.

Our knowledge is much more narrowed if we confine ourselves to our own solitary reasonings. --I. Watts.

3. (Knitting) To contract the size of, as a stocking, by taking two stitches into one.

Narrow

Nar"row\, v. i. 1. To become less broad; to contract; to become narrower; as, the sea narrows into a strait.

2. (Man.) Not to step out enough to the one hand or the other; as, a horse narrows. --Farrier's Dict.

3. (Knitting) To contract the size of a stocking or other knit article, by taking two stitches into one.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : narrow
Spanish: estrecho,
German: schmal,
Japanese: 狭い
More Translations »

narrow 
O.E. nearu, from W.Gmc. *narwaz (cf. Fris. nar, O.S. naro, M.Du. nare), not found in other Gmc. languages and of unknown origin. The verb is O.E. nearwian, from the adj. Narrowly "only by a little" is attested from 1560. Narrow-minded first recorded 1625. Narrow-gauge railway is 4 feet 8.5 inches or less. The narrow seas (c.1400) were the waters between Great Britain and the continent and Ireland.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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narrow

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

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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