widerness.html - See: FAR AND WIDE, GIVE A WIDE BERTH.

widerness.html - {adv.} or {adj. phr.} 1. Far from the target or the thing aimed at. * /James threw a stone at the cat but it went wide of the mark./ 2. Far from the truth; incorrect. * /You were wide of the mark when you said I did it, because Bill did it./ Contrast: HIT THE BULL'S-EYE, HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD.

widerness.html - See: ROUND-EYED.

widerness.html - (Science and Technology) see WAN

widerness.html - In relation to the EC: the policy of extending membership of the Community to more countries (possibly including the countries of Eastern Europe). Etymology: A specialized use of the figurative sense of widening, adopted by analogy with deepening (see below ). History and Usage: A word which has been used especially in connection with the debate over European integration in the second half of the eighties, and is often presented as the opposite approach from the Delors plan for EMU

(otherwise known as deepening). A person who favours widening in the Community is known as a widener. Some of the wideners have gone to the other extreme, arguing that the Community must now abandon much of its cohesion...There is no need for widening to conflict with deepening. Indeed, every widening has brought more deepening. Independent 13 Dec. 1990, p. 22

widerness.html - adj., adv., & n. --adj.

1 a measuring much or more than other things of the same kind across or from side to side. b considerable; more than is needed (a wide margin).
2 (following a measurement) in width (a metre wide).
3 extending far; embracing much; of great extent (has a wide range; has wide experience; reached a wide public).
4 not tight or close or restricted; loose.
5 a free, liberal; unprejudiced (takes wide views). b not specialized; general.
6 open to the full extent (staring with wide eyes).
7 a (foll. by of) not within a reasonable distance of. b at a considerable distance from a point or mark.
8 Brit. sl. shrewd; skilled in sharp practice (wide boy).
9 (in comb.) extending over the whole of (nationwide).

--adv.

1 widely.
2 to the full extent (wide awake).
3 far from the target etc. (is shooting wide).

--n.

1 Cricket a ball judged to pass the wicket beyond the batsman's reach and so scoring a run.
2 (prec. by the) the wide world.

give a wide berth to see BERTH . wide-angle (of a lens) having a short focal length and hence a field covering a wide angle. wide awake 1 fully awake.
2 colloq. wary, knowing. wide ball Cricket (sense 1 of n.). wide-eyed surprised or na

ve. wide of the mark see MARK(1) ). wide open (often foll. by to) exposed or vulnerable (to attack etc.). wide-ranging covering an extensive range. the wide world all the world great as it is.

wideness n. widish adj. [OE wid (adj.), wide (adv.) f. Gmc]