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narrow

/ˈnæroʊ//ˈnærəʊ/·verb, adjective
to become or make less wide; (adj.) small in width, or barely achieved
Fig. 1 — The cones go out one by one across the morning road, and three lanes politely become one.
01Definition

To narrow is to lose width — the two sides of a thing drawing toward each other. A road narrows to one lane at roadworks, a river narrows into a gorge, eyes narrow in suspicion, and, in the figurative uses exams love, a gap narrows, options narrow, a search is narrowed down. The adjective came first (Old English nearu) and still does heavy duty: a narrow street, a narrow escape, a narrow majority — width so small that barely anything, or barely enough, gets through.

02In use
  • iThe road narrows to a single lane just before the bridge.
  • iiNew evidence helped investigators narrow down the list of suspects.
  • iiiThe gap between the two economies has narrowed steadily since 2010.
03Collocations
  • narrow down the options
  • narrow the gap
  • the road narrows
  • eyes narrow
  • a narrow escape
  • a narrow margin

Family narrowness (noun) · narrowly (adverb) · narrowing (noun)

04Relations

=constrict, taper, tighten, close, contract

≠widen, broaden, expand

06TOEFL & IELTS

Double-duty vocabulary. The verb powers two of the most exam-useful patterns in English: narrow the gap (IELTS Task 1's standard phrase for differences closing) and narrow down (reducing options — essays, listening, everyday academic talk). The adjective's idioms carry the 'barely' sense: a narrow escape, win by a narrow margin, a narrow majority. Keep narrow-minded separate in your notes — it is about outlook, not width, and is always negative.

07Asked
What does 'narrow down' mean?
To reduce a set of possibilities toward the few worth keeping: narrow down the shortlist, narrow the search down to two suspects. The particle down adds direction to the squeeze — from many toward few — and the object can sit either side of it (narrow down the options / narrow the options down). It is the everyday workhorse of the word and safe in formal writing.
Is narrow a verb or an adjective?
Both, and the adjective is the historical core: Old English nearu gave narrow streets and narrow gates, and the verb grew out of it (Old English nearwian, 'to confine, cramp'). The verb puts the adjective in motion — to make or become less wide. Exams use both: reading passages use the verb figuratively (options, definitions and gaps narrow), while the adjective carries the literal and idiomatic senses (a narrow channel, a narrow escape).
What does 'narrow the gap' mean?
To make a difference between two things smaller — in scores, incomes, performance, or attainment: 'developing economies have narrowed the gap with richer ones'. Trend writing leans on it wherever two lines converge, and the noun version is 'a narrowing of the gap'. The scene above shows the same squeeze: the usable road pinched in, lane by lane.
What is a narrow escape?
An escape that only just happened — the danger missed you by a sliver. The adjective here means 'with almost no margin': a narrow escape, a narrow victory, win by a narrow margin, a narrow majority. English measures luck in width: the closer the walls of the outcome, the narrower the word. 'Narrowly' does the same job as an adverb: narrowly avoided, narrowly lost.
Does narrow-minded come from the same idea?
Yes — it maps width onto thinking: a narrow mind admits only a thin range of views, the opposite of broad-minded. But treat it as its own word: it is always disapproving, and it describes character rather than dimensions. Its opposites are open-minded and broad-minded.
What does it mean when someone's eyes narrow?
They half-close into a squint — fiction's standard signal for suspicion, doubt or hard calculation: 'her eyes narrowed as she read the fine print.' The body squints to sharpen focus; novels borrowed the reflex as shorthand for sharpened attention. Beyond eyes, anything two-edged narrows literally — roads, rivers, channels, tunnels — and geography keeps a noun from it: the narrows, the pinched stretch of a river or strait.
Is narrow the opposite of widen?
As verbs, yes — they are the exact pair for width: a road narrows where crews cone it off and widens where a lane is added; gaps, deficits and leads narrow and widen in the same sentence patterns. The adjectives pair narrow with wide or broad. When you learn one trend verb, learn its mirror — Task 1 graphs rarely move in only one direction.