narrow

Syllables: nar·row/ˈnæɹoʊ//ˈnæɹəʊ/

narrow adjective: having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth. Also the contracted of limited scope.

Adjective

narrow (comparative narrower, superlative narrowest)

Having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.
- a narrow hallway
- She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC
Of little extent; very limited; circumscribed.
- The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a narrow compass in the world.1675, John Wilkins, Of the Principles and Duties of Natural Religion
(figuratively) Restrictive; without flexibility or latitude.
- a narrow interpretation
Having a small margin or degree.
- a narrow escape
- The Republicans won by a narrow majority.
(dated) Limited as to means; straitened
- narrow circumstances
Parsimonious; niggardly; covetous; selfish.
- a very narrow […] and stinted charitya. 1719, George Smalridge, The Hopes of a Recompense from Men must not be our chief Aim in doing Good
Scrutinizing in detail; close; accurate; exact.
- But first with narrow search I must walk round / This garden, and no corner leave unspied.1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
Formed (as a vowel) by a close position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate; or (according to Bell) by a tense condition of the pharynx; distinguished from wide.
Of or supporting only those text characters that can fit into the traditional 8-bit representation.
- a narrow character; a narrow stream
Antonyms:

wide

Noun

narrow (plural narrows)

(in plural) A narrow passage, especially a contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea; a strait connecting two bodies of water.
- the narrows of New York harbor
- Near the island lay on one side the jaws of a dangerous narrow.1858, William Gladstone, Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age

Verb

narrow (third-person singular simple present narrows, present participle narrowing, simple past and past participle narrowed)

(transitive) To reduce in width or extent; to contract.
- We need to narrow the search.
(intransitive) To get narrower.
- The road narrows.
To partially lower one's eyelids in a way usually taken to suggest a defensive, aggressive or penetrating look.
- He stepped in front of me, narrowing his eyes to slits.
- She wagged her finger in his face, and her eyes narrowed.
To contract the size of, as a stocking, by taking two stitches into one.
(transitive) To convert to a data type that cannot hold as many distinct values.
- to narrow an int variable to a short variable
Antonyms:

widen

Also used as

narrow is also the contracted of limited scope.

narrow meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

narrow in Tamil

having small width: குறுகிய kuṟukiya

narrow in Urdu

having small width: تنگ taṅg

More languagesFewer languages

narrow in Bengali: সংকীর্ণ, সরু
narrow in Telugu: ఇరుకైన irukaina, సన్నని sannani
narrow in Malayalam: ഇടുങ്ങിയ
narrow in Kannada: ಕಿರಿದಾದ, ಕಿರಿದಾಗಿದೆ
narrow in Gujarati: સાંકડી, સાંકડા
narrow in Odia: ସଂକୀର୍ଣ୍ଣ
narrow in Sanskrit: अंहु aṃhu
narrow in Nepali: साँघुरो
narrow in Arabic: ضَيِّق ḍayyiq
narrow in Malay: sempit
narrow in Indonesian: sempit
narrow in Persian: تنگ tang
narrow in Thai: แคบ kɛ̂ɛp
narrow in Vietnamese: hẹp, chật hẹp, eo hẹp, chật
narrow in Myanmar: ကျဉ်း kyany:, ကျဉ်းကျပ် kyany:kyap

Examples of narrow in a sentence

Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field.2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist, archived from the original on 07 Sep 2013:
[…] it is unclear whether the beatings of potential political opponents are a governmentwide strategy or a narrower effort by Mr.2007 March 29, Michael Wines, “Zimbabwean Leaders Accused of Abducting Opponents”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 22...

All 40 example sentences with narrow

Synonyms of narrow

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of narrow

Forms of narrow

Adjective
comparative	narrower
superlative	narrowest
alternative form	narrowe
Noun
plural	narrows
Verb
third-person singular present	narrows
present participle	narrowing
past participle	narrowed
past	narrowed

Past tense of narrow: narrowed

Origin of narrow

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”), Saterland Frisian noar (“narrow”), Dutch naar (“nasty, scary; sickening, unpleasant”), Danish and Swedish nor (“narrow strait”); also Sanskrit नृत् (nṛt, “to dance; act on stage, represent”).

From Middle English narwen (“to narrow”); see there for more details, but ultimately derived from the noun.

Words formed from narrow

Phrases with narrow

10 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with narrow

Questions about narrow

What does narrow mean?: Narrow means having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.
What is narrow in Hindi?: Narrow in Hindi is तंग (taṅg). See Narrow meaning in Hindi.
How do you use narrow in a sentence?: Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.
What part of speech is narrow?: Narrow can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce narrow?: Narrow is pronounced /ˈnæɹəʊ/ (UK).

Words near narrow in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: narrow (page history and authors); narrow (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); narrow (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); narrow (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); narrow (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); narrow (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); narrow (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); narrow (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-narrow.wav, En-us-ne-narrow.ogg.

Cite this entry: “narrow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/narrow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.