broaden

To broaden something is to make it wider or more expansive. If you wake up feeling less than cheerful, the sight of the doughnuts your dad got for breakfast might broaden your smile.

Something can broaden literally, like a river that broadens as you hike beside it, growing wider as it flows south. Things also broaden figuratively, the way people's minds tend to broaden when they travel around the world and meet people from different cultures. In both cases, things that broaden expand and become more open.

Definitions of broaden
1

v make broader

“broaden the road”
Type of:
extend, widen
extend in scope or range or area

v become broader

“The road broadened”
Type of:
increase
become bigger or greater in amount

v extend in scope or range or area

“broaden your horizon”
Synonyms:
extend, widen
expand, extend
expand the influence of
Types:
territorialise, territorialize
extend by adding territory
globalise, globalize
make world-wide in scope or application
stretch
extend the scope or meaning of; often unduly
Type of:
increase
make bigger or more

v vary in order to spread risk or to expand

Synonyms:
branch out, diversify
Antonyms:
narrow, narrow down, specialise, specialize
become more focused on an area of activity or field of study
Type of:
alter, change, vary
become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence

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