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narrow

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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.
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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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Word Origin & History

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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Idioms & Phrases

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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