narrow — EN↔FR

narrow /BrE ˈnarəʊ

, AmE ˈnɛroʊ

/ ▶ [Length measurement]

A narrows

plural noun

goulet m

adjective

1 (in breadth) [street, valley, gap, vase, room, bridge, face] étroit

to grow or narrow [road, river] se rétrécir; [valley] se resserrer

to have narrow eyes avoir des petits yeux

he is narrow across the shoulders, his shoulders are narrow il est étroit d'épaules

2 (in scope) [range, choice] restreint; [issue, field, boundaries, group, sense, definition] étroit; [vision, life, interests, understanding] limité; [views, version] étriqué derogatory

3 (in degree) [majority, margin] faible (before n)

to have a narrow lead avoir une légère avance

to suffer a narrow defeat perdre de justesse

to win a narrow victory gagner de justesse

to win by the narrowest of margins gagner d'une extrême justesse

to have a narrow escape or narrow squeak informal British l'échapper belle

that was a narrow squeak informal British on l'a échappé belle!

4 (in size, shape) [shoes, jacket, dress, skirt, trousers] étroit

5 Linguistics [vowel] tendu; [transcription] phonétique

transitive verb

1 (limit) limiter [choice, range, field, options] (to à); restreindre [sense, definition] (to à)

2 (reduce) réduire [gap, deficit, margin] (from de, to à)

Elliott has narrowed the gap (in race, poll) Elliott a réduit l'écart

3 (reduce breadth of) rétrécir [road, path, arteries]

to narrow one's eyes plisser les yeux

intransitive verb

1 (in breadth) [street, lake, corridor] se rétrécir; [valley, arteries] se resserrer

the road narrowed to a track la route se rétrécissait au point de devenir un chemin

her eyes narrowed elle plissait les yeux

2 (fall off) [gap, deficit, margin, lead] se réduire (to à)

3 (in scope) [choice] se limiter (to à)

E narrowing

adjective

[street, channel, passage] qui se rétrécit; [gap, deficit, field] qui se réduit

Idioms

the straight and narrow

le droit chemin

to keep to/wander from the straight and narrow

rester dans le/s'écarter du droit chemin

Phrasal verb

■ narrow down

[investigation, search] se limiter (to à); [field of contestants, suspects] se réduire (to à)

narrow [sth] down,

narrow down [sth]

réduire [numbers, list, choice] (to à); limiter [investigation, research] (to à)