narrow

adj

1. 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.”

   “Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.”

   “Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field. A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that.”

2. Of little extent; very limited; circumscribed.

   “The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a narrow compass in the world.”

3. (figuratively)Restrictive; without flexibility or latitude.

   “a narrow interpretation”

4. (alt-of, contracted)Contracted; of limited scope; bigoted

   “a narrow mind”

   “narrow views”

5. Having a small margin or degree.

   “a narrow escape”

   “The Republicans won by a narrow majority.”

   “Although we lost the election by the narrowest of margins, the people of Oregon heard a great deal about education, and particularly about how "look-say" reading instruction was hardshipping Oregon school children.”

   “[…] it is unclear whether the beatings of potential political opponents are a governmentwide strategy or a narrower effort by Mr. Mugabe’s backers to shore up his remaining power.”

   “As in their narrow defeat of Argentina last week, England were indisciplined at the breakdown, and if Georgian fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili had remembered his kicking boots, Johnson's side might have been behind at half-time.”

6. (dated)Limited as to means; straitened

   “narrow circumstances”

7. Parsimonious; niggardly; covetous; selfish.

   “a very narrow […] and stinted charity”

8. Scrutinizing in detail; close; accurate; exact.

   “But first with narrow search I must walk round / This garden, and no corner leave unspied.”

9. 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.
10. Of or supporting only those text characters that can fit into the traditional 8-bit representation.

    “a narrow character; a narrow stream”

noun

1. (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.”

verb

1. (transitive)To reduce in width or extent; to contract.

   “We need to narrow the search.”

2. (intransitive)To get narrower.

   “The road narrows.”

3. 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.”

4. To contract the size of, as a stocking, by taking two stitches into one.
5. (transitive)To convert to a data type that cannot hold as many distinct values.

   “to narrow an int variable to a short variable”