widen 'make wider' lengthen 'make longer' enlarge 'make larger' broaden 'make broader' narrow 'make or become more narrow or restricted' expand 'make bigger or wider in size, volume, or quantity' contract 'make or become more narrow or restricted'
lengthen 'COD: make or become longer.' magnify 'COD: make (something) appear larger than it is, especially with a lens or microscope. ' dilate 'FN: make wider, larger, or more open.' inflate 'COD: to expand or cause to expand by filling with air or gas. ' swell 'FN: to make an entity greater size' expand 'FN: to cause something to become larger in any dimension' shrink 'COD: become or make smaller in size or amount; contract' enlarge 'COD: make or become bigger.' widen 'COD: make or become wider.'
She enlarged the flower beds widen the road Lengthen this skirt, please The road narrowed expand the house by adding another wing The selection was narrowed broaden the road
Examples from VerbNet
The clothes dried wrinkled. The clothes dried. Bill dried the clothes with a hairdryer. The hairdryer dried the clothes. The cotton clothes dried easily. Bill dried the clothes.
Examples from SemCor
Wavy lines, feather like patterns, rosettes of indefinitely floral nature, birds either singly or in stylized rows, animals in solemn frieze bands( Plates 11- 12)- all these turned_up in the more developed fabrics as preliminary signs that the potters were broadening their gaze. The Nassau system recognizes that its major task it to broaden reference service, what with the constant expansion of education and knowledge, and the pressure of population growth in a metropolitan area. The anterior lobe of the pituitary then responds by an increased output of TSH, causing the thyroid to enlarge. This would, naturally, lengthen their courses far beyond the largely esthetic demands of interior_designer 's training. Founded in the Ninth_Century_B._C. it was_called Byzantium 200 years later when Byzas, ruler of the Megarians, expanded the settlement and named it after himself. In establishing criterion measurements, it was therefore thought best to broaden the scope beyond the reading act itself. Programs usually are expanded only when outside funds are available or local business_leaders demand it. The Rule_of_Law, historically a principle according everyone his`` day in court'' before an impartial tribunal, was broadened substantively by making it a responsibility of government to promote individual welfare. On the positive side, recent Federal action has largely undermined the legal sanction so_long enjoyed by the segregationist position; anti-discriminatory statutes in housing have now been adopted by thirteen states and, while specific provisions have varied, the tendency is clearly toward expanding coverage. The Office of Foreign and Domestic Commerce is also active in the field of international trade, assisting Rhode_Island firms in developing and enlarging markets abroad. the sway may be gradually minimized or enlarged, its rhythmic emphasis may be slightly modified, or it may be transferred to become a movement of only the arms or the head. He was delighted to learn that the Post_Office_Department is now going_to expand this service to deliver mail from Representatives in Congress to their constituents without the use of stamps, names, addresses or even zone numbers. Apart from the aged care plan the President 's most ambitious and costly proposals were for federal scholarships, and grants to build or enlarge medical and dental_schools. Corrections were applied for modulation broadening, apparatus background, and field shift. Other reasons mentioned by one-third or more of the builders were`` resistance to high interest_rates, cost advantage of buying over renting has narrowed, shelter market nearing saturation and prospects unable to qualify''. So right_away Claude introduced Henri to his famous`` moon'' bench and proceeded to teach him his first Push-Pull_Super-Set the wide grip Straight-Arm_Pullover( the`` pull'' part of the Push-Pull_Super-Set) which dramatically widens the rib_cage and strongly affects the muscles of the upper back and chest, and the collar-to-collar Bench_Press which specifically works_on the chest to build those wide, Reeves-type`` gladiator'' pecs, while stimulating the upper lats and frontal deltoids. They were climbing the hill in the night when the headlights abruptly probed solid blackness, became two parallel luminous tubes which broadened out into a faint mist of light and ended. The landscape of Greek history broadens widely, and rather abruptly, in the eighth century, the age of Homer 's`` rosy fingered Dawn''. And here again we hear the same refrain mentioned above:`` The paramount goal of the United_States, set long_ago, was to guard the rights of the individual, ensure his development, enlarge his opportunity''. Mantle so appreciated Miller 's delicate literary style that he broadened teammates' minds by reading sensitive passages aloud during road trips. The President recommended federal`` matching grants'' totaling 700 million dollars in 10 years for constructing new medical and dental_schools or enlarging the capacity of existing ones. If a child loses a molar at the age of two, the adjoining teeth may shift toward the empty space, thus narrowing the place intended for the permanent ones and producing a jumble. By subduing disparate lesser groups the nation has, to_some_degree at_least, broadened the capacity for individual liberty.