Widespread Meaning
/ˌwaɪdˈspɹɛd/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjAffecting, or found throughout, a large area (e.g. the entire land or body); broad in extent; widely diffused.
adjSpread far apart.
Sentence Examples
One student says the purge is still going on in China and terror is widespread.
There was widespread panic after the earthquake.
The jury's guilty verdict gave rise to widespread debate.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Because of modern transportation, the invasive species became ____ across the continent.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The news of the discovery caused ____ excitement among the scientific community around the whole of the world today.
Word Origin & History
From wide + spread.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:
"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."
— 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
"Women with knee-length silk stockings, sitting with widespread legs on sunwashed green benches"
— 1964, Evan Hunter, Buddwing:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Because of modern transportation, the invasive species became ____ across the continent.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The news of the discovery caused ____ excitement among the scientific community around the whole of the world today.