narrow: Meaning and Definition of

nar•row

Pronunciation: (nar'ō), [key]
— adj., v., n. -er, -est,
—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. stingy or parsimonious.
    1. (of a vowel) articulated with the tongue laterally constricted, as the ee of beet, the oo of boot, etc.; tense. Cf.lax(def. 7).
    2. (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).
  10. (of livestock feeds) proportionately rich in protein.
—v.i.
  1. 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. a narrow part of a strait, river, ocean current, etc.
  4. 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.
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