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Webster 1828 Edition

ppr.

Extending the distance between the sides; enlarging in all directions.

widening ‎(not comparable)

Of things that are growing wider.
Of things that are separate, with increasing separation.
The widening gap between rich and poor creates social problems.

1920 — William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

widening ‎(plural widenings)

The action of the verb widen.
- 1887 — Robert Louis Stevenson, The Merry Men, Olalla
  She looked up sleepily and asked me what it was, and with the very words I thought she drew in her breath with a widening of the nostrils and seemed to come suddenly and fully alive.

act of widening

widening