Dictionary
nar•row
Pronunciation: (nar'ō), [key]
—adj., -er, -est,
—v., n.
—
adj.
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 Eng.stingy or parsimonious.
10. Phonet.
a. (of a vowel) articulated with the tongue laterally constricted, as the
ee of
beet, the
oo of
boot, etc.; tense. Cf.
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. Cf.
broad (def. 14).
11. (of livestock feeds) proportionately rich in protein.
—
v.i.
to decrease in width or breadth:
This is where the road narrows.
—
v.t.
1. to make narrower.
2. to limit or restrict (often fol. by
down):
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.
—
n.
1. a narrow part, place, or thing.
2. a narrow part of a valley, passage, or road.
3. narrows, (used with a sing. or pl. v.) 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 mi. (3.2 km) long; 1 mi. (1.6 km) wide.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
