From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishwidenwid‧en /ˈwaɪdn/ ●●○ verb 1 WIDE[intransitive, transitive] to become wider, or to make something wider OPP narrow They’re widening the road. The river widens and splits.2 INCREASE IN NUMBER OR AMOUNT[intransitive, transitive] to become larger in degree or range, or to make something do this OPP narrow The gap between income and expenditure has widened to 11%. They are trying to widen the discussion to include environmental issues.3 [intransitive] if your eyes widen, they open more, especially because you are surprised or frightened OPP narrow→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
widen• The gap between the incomes of two-carer families and lone mothers with children has widened.• But a return to a strictly enforced standard becomes more and more difficult as the gap between generations widens.• The road widened again when we came out of the tunnel.• Her eyes widened as though she were shocked at herself.• From Horton, the valley widens, becoming broader and more expansive.• Maryland widened its lead to 14 points.• They widened still further as his eyes ran slowly over the visible curves of her body.• The new interest in growth is sure to widen that gap.• In fact, many recent developments have served to widen the gap between North and South.• A lot of local residents are against council plans to widen the road.• When are they going to widen the road?• The current account deficit widened to 4. 1 billion marks from a revised 2. 9 million marks in September.• Later the tunnel was widened to accommodate larger vehicles.• The range of university courses available has widened tremendously in recent years. 