narrowing

Narrowing, in linguistics, is a type of semantic change in which a word's reference becomes more specific over time or within a particular domain. It contrasts with widening, where a term's scope broadens. Narrowing can occur historically or within specialized registers, such as science or law.

Classic examples include meat, which once meant food in general and later came to denote animal flesh; and wife, which in Old English could mean any woman and later referred specifically to a married woman. Other domains show narrowing as terms acquire precise technical senses in professional vocabularies.

Narrowing arises through processes such as metaphorical contraction, specialization for efficiency in discourse, or social and cultural change that redefines how a term is used in specific communities. It can be observed in dictionaries and linguistic corpora as senses disappear or become subordinate to others, often leaving a core, conventional meaning.

In medical and technical contexts, the term narrowing is used literally to describe a constriction. For example, arterial narrowing (stenosis) refers to a reduced diameter of a vessel that can impair flow or function. Narrowing thus spans both abstract semantic change in everyday language and concrete physical descriptions in the sciences.