widening

Etymology

adj

1. Growing wider or farther apart.
   The widening gap between rich and poor creates social problems.
   Turning and turning in the widening gyre / The falcon cannot hear the falconer; […] 1920, William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming

noun

1. The action of the verb widen.
   She looked up sleepily and asked me what it was, and with the very words I thought she drew in her breath with a widening of the nostrils and seemed to come suddenly and fully alive. 1887, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Merry Men, Olalla
   Near the site of the old Kennet Bridge signalbox, a down goods loop has been provided and this necessitated the widening of an embankment and the slewing of the up and down relief lines. 1962 October, “Talking of Trains: New signalbox at Twyford”, in Modern Railways, page 227

verb

1. present participle and gerund of widen