nar·row / ˈnarō/ • adj. (-row·er, -row·est) 1. (esp. of something that is considerably longer or higher than it is wide) of small width: he made his way down the narrow road.2. limited in extent, amount, or scope; restricted: his ability to get good results within narrow constraints of money and manpower. ∎  (of a person's attitude or beliefs) limited in range and lacking willingness or ability to appreciate alternative views: companies fail through their narrow view of what contributes to profit. ∎  precise or strict in meaning: some of the narrower definitions of democracy. ∎  (of a phonetic transcription) showing fine details of accent. ∎  Phonet. denoting a vowel pronounced with the root of the tongue drawn back so as to narrow the pharynx.3. (esp. of a victory, defeat, or escape) with only a small margin; barely achieved.• v. 1. become or make less wide: [intr.] the road narrowed and crossed an old bridge | [tr.] the embankment was built to narrow the river. ∎  [intr.] (of a person's eyes) almost closed so as to focus on something or someone, or to indicate anger, suspicion, or other emotion: Jake's eyes had narrowed to pinpoints. ∎  [tr.] (of a person) cause (one's eyes) to do this: she narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.2. become or make more limited or restricted in extent or scope: [intr.] their trade surplus narrowed to $70 million in January | [tr.] New England had narrowed Denver's lead from 13 points to 4. • n. (narrows) a narrow channel connecting two larger areas of water: a basaltic fang rising from the narrows of the Upper Missouri.PHRASES: narrow circumstances poverty.PHRASAL VERBS: narrow something down reduce the number of possibilities or options of something: the company has narrowed down the candidates for the job to two.DERIVATIVES: nar·row·ish adj.nar·row·ness n.

narrow having little breadth OE.; (dial.) parsimonious, ‘close’ strict, close XIII; lacking in breadth of view or sympathy XVII. OE. nearu (stem nearw-) = OS. naru (MDu. nare, naer, Du. naar):- Gmc. *narwaz (repr. in MHG. narwe, G. narbe, MLG. nar(w)e scar, sb. use of the adj.), of which no certain cogns, are known.
So narrow vb. OE. nearwian confine, †oppress, become narrow; but in ME. (XIII) a new formation on the adj.

narrow A term a is said to narrow to a term b using a substitution s (which replaces a variable v by expression e) provided a is obtained from b by replacing an instance of e in b by v.