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widespread

/ˈwaɪdspred//ˈwaɪdspred/·adjective
found or happening over a large area or among many people
Fig. 1 — A field of dots sits dim, and one of them lights up.
01Definition

Widespread means found across a wide area or among many people, not confined to one spot. It joins wide and spread, and that is its whole picture: something that has reached far and is now common over a region or a population. A rumour, a disease, a belief, or a practice can be widespread. The word stresses extent rather than depth — widespread support may still be shallow — and it tends to appear just where a problem has stopped being local and turned general.

02In use
  • iBy winter the virus was widespread, with cases in every region of the country.
  • iiThere is widespread support for the reform, though it may prove shallow once the costs surge.
  • iiiMisinformation travels so fast online that a single false claim can become widespread before fact-checkers even emerge.
03Collocations
  • widespread support
  • widespread damage
  • become widespread
  • widespread concern
  • widespread adoption
04Relations

=prevalent, pervasive, extensive, rampant, ubiquitous

≠localized, rare, scarce

06TOEFL & IELTS

A strong upgrade from 'common' or 'everywhere' in TOEFL/IELTS Writing about social trends, health, and technology ('widespread use of smartphones'). It modifies extent, not intensity — pair it with nouns like support, concern, damage, adoption. Note it is one word and usually attributive ('a widespread belief'). The antonyms localized and isolated are handy for contrast paragraphs.

07Asked
Is 'widespread' one word or hyphenated?
One word — widespread. 'Wide-spread' with a hyphen and 'wide spread' as two words are both nonstandard in modern English; the compound closed up long ago. It behaves as a single adjective, usually before its noun (a widespread belief) or after a linking verb (the practice is widespread). If you are ever unsure, the solid one-word form is always the safe choice.
What does widespread mean?
Found or happening over a large area or among many people — not confined to one spot. A rumour, a disease, a belief or a practice can be widespread. It stresses extent rather than depth: widespread support may still be shallow. The scene above is the spread itself — a wave of activation rolling out from a single lit point until the whole field, edge to edge, is lit with nothing left dark.
What is the difference between widespread and prevalent?
Both mean common over a large area, with a shade of difference. Widespread stresses geographic or physical extent — how far something has spread. Prevalent adds the sense of being the dominant or usual condition — how much it has become the norm. A disease can be widespread (found everywhere) and prevalent (the most common one). Widespread maps the reach; prevalent marks the dominance.
What is the difference between widespread and pervasive?
Widespread is about extent — reaching across a large area. Pervasive adds penetration — spread not just wide but into every part, hard to escape. Widespread poverty covers a region; pervasive corruption has seeped into every institution. Widespread counts how far; pervasive stresses how thoroughly something has worked its way in. Pervasive is the more insidious of the two.
What does 'widespread support' mean, and can it be shallow?
It means support held across many people or places — broad in reach. And yes, it can be shallow, because widespread measures extent, not depth: a policy can have widespread but lukewarm backing that evaporates the moment it costs anything. That gap is exactly why the word is useful in argument — it lets you concede that something is common without conceding that it is deeply or firmly held.