widely, adv.
(ˈwaɪdlɪ)
[f. wide a. + -ly2.]
Commonly hyphened to a following ppl. or other adj. when preceding its n.: cf. deeply adv. 7, highly adv. 6.
1. Over or through a wide space or region; in or to various places; extensively.
| 1697 Dryden æneis i. 559 Her..dishevel'd Hair,..widely spread Ambrosial Scents around. 1697 ― Virg. Georgic iv. 768 Where he leap'd, the Waves in Circles widely spread. 1748 Thomson Cast. Indol. i. xxxi, All the widely-silent places round. 1802 R. Warner Tour Northern Counties II. 289 Ornamenting the widely-extended carpet of green with occasional spots of the most brilliant white. 1855 Orr's Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat. 83 The coal measures..are widely distributed in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland; in Belgium, France, and Spain; in many parts of Western Germany [etc.]. 1883 Keane in Nature 1 Mar. 410/1 This widely-ramifying family. |
2. Over a wide range; among a large number or variety of persons; in relation to many or various things, subjects, cases, etc.; extensively.
| 1695 Ld. Preston Boeth. ii. 85 For though his Fame doth widely fly,..At last the mighty thing must die. a 1718 Prior Ode to Queen ii, When bright Eliza rul'd Britannia's State, Widely distributing Her high Commands. 1834 Lyte Hymn, ‘Praise, my soul, the King of heaven’ iii, Praise Him, praise Him, Widely as His mercy flows. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz, First of May, The widely-spread taste for register-stoves. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 33 Viscount Mordaunt, widely renowned, many years later, as Earl of Peterborough. Ibid. 122 One tract..was widely circulated in manuscript. 1862 Burton Bk. Hunter (1863) 12 The drunken laird and the widely tolerant wife. 1915 W. C. Allen Gosp. St. Mark 67 The Semitic word..is used very widely of seas, lakes, and even rivers. |
3. With (at, by) a wide interval or intervals (of space or time); far, far apart; to a great or considerable width.
| 1663 Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xxiii. (1687) 240 Two Hills..which were..very widely distant the one from the other. 1697 Dryden æneis iii. 927 We..widely shun the Lilybæan Strand, Unsafe, for secret Rocks, and moving Sand. 1779 Mirror No. 13 ¶7 The poetical productions of widely-distant periods of society. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xlviii, Those widely staring eyes..appeared in the midst of the darkness. 1860 Wraxall Life in Sea i. 24 Widely-extended jaws. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. ix. 157 Widely-sundered castes and classes. 1879 Sweet in Trans. Philol. Soc. 465 In loud declamation..the mouth is naturally opened widelier. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xviii, Through the widely-opened gateways. |
4. fig. To a large extent, greatly, very much, extremely, ‘far’; esp. † (a) so as to be ‘wide of the mark’, with large deviation from accuracy, as in widely mistaken; (b) so as to be far apart in nature, character, amount, etc., as in widely different, to differ widely.
| 1688 Bunyan Heavenly Footman (1886) 154 Alas, thou art widely mistaken! 1705 Berkeley Commonpl. Bk. Wks. 1871 IV. 459 Malbranch..differs widely from me. 1802 M. Edgeworth Moral T., Forester viii, Negligence and inhumanity are widely different. 1821 Scott Kenilw. viii, She must indeed be widely changed from what she once was. 1880 Geikie Phys. Geog. iv. 242 The proportion of mineral matter..differs widely in different springs. |
† 5. With ‘latitude’ of conduct, beyond the bounds of propriety, uncivilly: cf. wide a. 11 a. Obs. rare—1.
| 1666 Pepys Diary 6 Aug., My Lord..did treat her..very widely and ungenteely. |