narrow

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   lacking tolerance or flexibility or breadth of view

   a brilliant but narrow-minded judge

2. 2
   adj

   limited in size or scope

   the narrow sense of a word

3. 3
   adj

   not wide

   a narrow bridge

4. 4
   adj

   very limited in degree

   won by a narrow margin

5. 5
   verb

   make or become more narrow or restricted

   The selection was narrowed

6. 6
   verb

   define clearly

   I cannot narrow down the rules for this game

7. 7
   adj

   Having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.

   a narrow hallway

8. 8
   adj

   Of little extent; very limited; circumscribed.

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

Etymology

From Middle English narow, narowe, narewe, narwe, naru, from Old English nearu (“narrow, strait, confined, constricted, not spacious, limited, petty; limited, poor, restricted; oppressive, causing anxiety (of that which restricts free action of body or mind), causing or accompanied by difficulty, hardship, oppressive; oppressed, not having free action; strict, severe”), from Proto-West Germanic *naru, from Proto-Germanic *narwaz (“constricted, narrow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ner- (“to turn, bend, twist, constrict”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian naar, noar, noor, nåår (“narrow”),…