widespread definition

English

Alternative forms

• wide-spread

Etymology

From wide +‎ spread.

Pronunciation

• (predicative) IPA^(key): /ˌwaɪdˈspɹɛd/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (prenominal) IPA^(key): /ˈwaɪdˌspɹɛd/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Adjective

widespread (comparative widerspread or more widespread, superlative widestspread or most widespread)

1. Affecting a large area (e.g. the entire land or body); broad in extent; widely diffused.
   • 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:

     It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.

   • 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:

     Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.

Synonyms

• extensive, pervasive, prevalent, ubiquitous, universal; see also Thesaurus:widespread

Antonyms

• limited

Derived terms

• widespreadly
• widespreadness

Translations