Meaning & use
widespread
Last updated
Meaning
adjectivecomparable
Found or happening in many places or among many people.
Grammar: Goes before a noun or after be: widespread concern, the problem is widespread; more widespread is possible.
Patterns
- widespread in something
- widespread among someone
There was widespread anger after the announcement.
Flu is widespread in schools this month.
The practice is widespread among small farmers.
Word forms
| comparative | more widespread |
|---|---|
| superlative | most widespread |
Common combinations
- widespread support
- The plan has widespread support in the town.
- widespread damage
- The storm caused widespread damage to crops.
- widespread concern
- Rising prices have caused widespread concern.
- widespread belief
- It is a widespread belief that the old bridge is haunted.
- become widespread
- Smartphones became widespread within a decade.
Synonyms and how they differ
- common
- Common says something is frequent, whereas widespread stresses how far it extends across places or groups.
- prevalent
- Prevalent is more formal and stresses being the usual condition at a given time.
- extensive
- Extensive describes size or range and fits damage or research, but not beliefs held by many people as naturally.
- general
- General means shared by most people, with less emphasis on geography.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: widespread or widely spread?
widespread vs widely spread
Widely spread is a looser phrase meaning distributed over a large area; widespread is the single adjective used before nouns.
Practice
Choose the best option: 'Power cuts were ___ after the storm, affecting nearly every district.'
Choose one answer.
Widespread means affecting many places. Isolated and rare mean the opposite, and brief only describes duration.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “widespread”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.