Meanings
comparative more widespread · comparative rare widerspread · superlative most widespread · rare superlative widestspread · alternative wide-spread
- Affecting, or found throughout, a large area (e.g. the entire land or body); broad in extent; widely diffused.
widespread belief
5 more examples
widespread criticism
widespread acceptance
There was widespread support for the proposal.
The storm caused widespread damage.
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 - uncommonSpread far apart.
Women with knee-length silk stockings, sitting with widespread legs on sunwashed green benches
1964, Evan Hunter, Buddwing
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivewidely circulated or diffused
adjectivedistributed over a considerable extent
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian широко разпространен, обширен
- широко разпространен (široko razprostranen)affecting a large area
- обширен (obširen)affecting a large area
Catalan estès
- estèsaffecting a large area
Chinese Mandarin 廣泛 /广泛
- 廣泛 /广泛 (guǎngfàn)affecting a large area
Czech rozšířený
- rozšířenýaffecting a large area
Dutch wijdverspreid
- wijdverspreidaffecting a large area
Finnish laajalle levinnyt, laaja
- laajalle levinnytaffecting a large area
- laajaaffecting a large area
French répandu, généralisé
- répanduaffecting a large area
- généraliséaffecting a large area
German weitläufig, weitverbreitet
- weitläufigaffecting a large area
- weitverbreitetaffecting a large area
- weit verstreutaffecting a large area
Greek διαδεδομένος
- διαδεδομένος (diadedoménos)affecting a large area
Hungarian elterjedt
- elterjedtaffecting a large area
Icelandic útbreiddur
- útbreidduraffecting a large area
Irish go forleathan
- go forleathanaffecting a large area
Italian ampio, diffuso
- ampioaffecting a large area
- diffusoaffecting a large area
- estesoaffecting a large area
Latin lātus, pervagātus
- lātusaffecting a large area
- pervagātusaffecting a large area
Māori tukupū, tukipū
- tukupūaffecting a large area
- tukipūaffecting a large area
- rangiwhāwhāaffecting a large area
- mawheraaffecting a large area
- pārāweranuiaffecting a large area
Polish rozpowszechniony, powszechny
- rozpowszechnionyaffecting a large area
- powszechnyaffecting a large area
Portuguese difuso, difundido
- difusoaffecting a large area
- difundidoaffecting a large area
- amploaffecting a large area
- generalizadoaffecting a large area
- latoaffecting a large area
Romanian răspândit, extins
- răspânditaffecting a large area
- extinsaffecting a large area
Russian широко́ распространённый, распространённый
- широко́ распространённый (širokó rasprostranjónnyj)affecting a large area
- распространённый (rasprostranjónnyj)affecting a large area
Spanish amplio, común
- amplioaffecting a large area
- comúnaffecting a large area
- extendidoaffecting a large area
- extensoaffecting a large area
- generalizadoaffecting a large area
- masivoaffecting a large area
Swedish utbredd, omfattande
- utbreddaffecting a large area
- omfattandeaffecting a large area
Turkish yaygın
- yaygınaffecting a large area
Ukrainian широ́ко поши́рений, розповсю́джений
- широ́ко поши́рений (šyróko pošýrenyj)affecting a large area
- розповсю́джений (rozpovsjúdženyj)affecting a large area
Cite this entry
widespread. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/widespread
“widespread.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/widespread. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “widespread,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/widespread.
Source: widespread on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.