narrow
pronunciation
How to pronounce narrow in British English:
UK [ˈnærəʊ]
How to pronounce narrow in American English:
US [ˈnæroʊ]
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- Noun:
- a narrow strait connecting two bodies of water
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- Verb:
- make or become more narrow or restricted
- define clearly
- become more special
- become tight or as if tight
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- Adjective:
- not wide
- limited in size or scope
- lacking tolerance or flexibility or breadth of view
- very limited in degree
- characterized by painstaking care and detailed examination
Word Origin
- narrow
- narrow: [OE] Narrow comes from a prehistoric Germanic *narwaz, whose only other modern representative is Dutch naar ‘unpleasant, sad’ (although it also occurs in Norva-sund, the Old Norse term for the ‘Straits of Gibraltar’). It is not known for certain where it comes from, but a connection has been suggested with Latin nervus ‘sinew, bowstring’ (source of English nerve) and Old High German snuor ‘string’, which might point back to an ancestral sense ‘tying together tightly’.
- narrow (adj.)
- Old English nearu "narrow, constricted, limited; petty; causing difficulty, oppressive; strict, severe," from West Germanic *narwaz "narrowness" (cognates: Frisian nar, Old Saxon naru, Middle Dutch nare, Dutch naar); not found in other Germanic languages and of unknown origin. The narrow seas (c. 1400) were the waters between Great Britain and the continent and Ireland. Related: Narrowness.
- narrow (n.)
- c. 1200, nearewe "narrow part, place, or thing," from narrow (adj.). Old English nearu (n.) meant "danger, distress, difficulty," also "prison, hiding place."
- narrow (v.)
- Old English nearwian "to force in, cramp, confine; become smaller, shrink;" see narrow (adj.). Related: Narrowed; narrowing.
Example
- 1. That gap will narrow as the recovery takes root .
- 2. Poland 's prosperity rests on a surprisingly narrow base .
- 3. Then they walked sideways through a narrow passage .
- 4. This seems too narrow a reading of history .
- 5. The country 's it industry is a worryingly narrow base on which to construct an economic superpower .