narrowlynar‧row‧ly /ˈnærəʊli $ -roʊ-/ ●○○ adverb 
He was narrowly defeated in the election. One bullet struck his car, narrowly missing him. A man narrowly escaped death when a fire broke out in his home on Sunday morning.2in a limited way OPP broadly: The law is being interpreted too narrowly. These big general issues should be broken down into more narrowly focused questions.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- A black BMW swerved, narrowly missing another car.
- A lot of workers have very narrowly focused job skills.
- Flying into the airport at Lima, we narrowly avoided a collision with another plane.
- He narrowly escaped arrest when the police raided his house.
- She narrowly failed to beat the world record in the 100 metres sprint.
- Smith narrowly lost the election.
- The article says Meyers narrowly escaped arrest in Rome last month.
- The bill was narrowly defeated in the Senate.
- The bullet narrowly missed her.
- We will have to consider your proposal very narrowly.
- A similar proposal, brought by a shareholders rights group, was approved narrowly last year but rejected by the board.
- Although they spent only $ 160,600 on their campaign, they narrowly defeated the proposition 51-49 percent.
- Auroux narrowly defeated the rival candidate, Henri Emmanuelli, by 113 votes to 109.
- In both cases, the journalists narrowly escaped injury but the houses from which they had been transmitting were devastated.
- It narrowly misses the corner of an executive's brief case.
- Two or three weeks ago, a crossbow quarrel narrowly missed my face as we crossed the Lawnmarket.
Longman Language Activatorwhen something almost happens but does not
· I was laughing so hard I almost fell out of my chair.· The terrorists almost succeeded in blowing up the President's limousine.very nearly · She was very lucky. She very nearly lost her life.
to almost do something or almost be in a particular state: come close/near to doing something: · She was so angry that she came very close to walking out of the meeting.· Dad came near to changing his mind about lending me the car.be close/near to something: · The negotiations were very near to breaking down.
to very nearly do something, especially something dangerous or unpleasant: come within inches of death: · Coulson came within inches of death on a climbing trip in the Himalayas last year.come within an inch of doing something: · Manchester United came within an inch of losing the game.
: narrowly avoid/miss/escape etc to avoid something unpleasant or dangerous, although you almost do not avoid it: · Flying into the airport at Lima, we narrowly avoided a collision with another plane.· The article says Meyers narrowly escaped arrest in Rome last month.
a situation in which someone is almost killed or injured: · Mike's had two motorcycle accidents, plus a few other pretty close shaves.
British if something that you succeed in doing is a near thing or a close thing you succeed in doing it, but only at the last moment: · The Labour party won the election, but it was a very near thing.· Security forces managed to free the hostages, but it was a very close thing.
spoken say this when something bad very nearly happens but does not, especially when this is the result of good luck: · The guard began to search the pile of leaves where we were hiding, but then got distracted by a noise from the house. "Phew, that was close!" said John. "C'mon, let's get out of here!"
when something happens, although it almost did not happen · "Can I speak to Tony please?" "Sorry, you've just missed him."· If you hurry you'll just catch the 9.30 bus.· I just made it to class on time.· At the moment we're just making enough money to cover our costs.just in time (=with very little time to spare) · We got to the station just in time.
if you barely do something, you succeed, although you almost fail: · The fog was so bad that we could barely see the road in front of us.· The staff here are barely coping with all the work.
also nearly didn't British · I saw him a week ago and I almost didn't recognize him, he'd lost so much weight.· My alarm clock is broken and I nearly didn't wake up in time this morning.
British /just barely American use this when you succeed in doing something, but you want to emphasize how close you were to failing: · It was a close game. Beverly beat me, but only just.· I could just barely hear him.· The paperwork was only just completed in time for the conference.· The train was late, and I just barely made it to the meeting on time.
: narrowly win/defeat/fail etc if you narrowly win, lose etc, you win or lose by a very small number of points, votes etc: · The bill was narrowly defeated in the Senate.· She narrowly failed to beat the world record in the 100 metres sprint.
British use this to say that something good happened, but it almost did not: · The Labour party won the election, but it was a very near thing.· He nearly died - it was a very close thing.
if you do something by the skin of your teeth , you succeed in doing it, but only by a very small amount of time, space etc: · The business is surviving, but only by the skin of its teeth.· The car broke down on the way to the airport and they just caught the plane by the skin of their teeth.
when something bad almost happened, but did not: narrowly avoid/miss/escape etc to avoid something unpleasant or dangerous, although you almost do not avoid it: · A black BMW swerved, narrowly missing another car.· He narrowly escaped arrest when the police raided his house.
British also close call American a situation in which something bad almost happens but does not: · A sniper's bullet went through the sleeve of his coat. It was a close shave but didn't even scratch him.· Joe breathed a sigh of relief as the guard passed on to the next cell: "That was a close call!"
spoken say this when you have managed to avoid something dangerous or unpleasant, but you almost did not: · Geez, that was close! Did you see that red car?
a situation in which something, especially a car or plane, almost hits something, but does not: · There were two near misses on the airport's runways between 1998 and 1999.· The asteroid flew within 106,000 miles of Earth, which astronomers considered a near miss.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES Alan narrowly avoided an accident. The bullet narrowly missed her heart. They narrowly missed being killed in the fire.
1by only a small amount: Alan narrowly avoided an accident. (=by only a few points, votes etc)· New Zealand narrowly beat the Springboks in South Africa.
(=only just avoid having something bad happen to you)· The firemen narrowly escaped being killed by the explosion.
The bullet narrowly missed her heart. They narrowly missed being killed in the fire. (=by a small majority)· The Senate voted narrowly to continue funding the controversial project.
(=by only a small amount)· In 1916 he narrowly won re-election.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· Secondly, the competition of economic theory is cast solely in terms of price competition and narrowly defined profit maximisation.· In its narrowly defined sense the responsibility of stewardship is to demonstrate that those assets have not been misappropriated.· Blacks, on the other hand, harbour a much more narrowly defined set of possibilities on how they might advance.· This kind of accountability goes beyond the narrowly defined stewardship of assets to include responsibility for the performance of those assets.· Conclusion From its earliest origins, rape was a narrowly defined offence.
· His three year-old daughter Jade narrowly escaped death when bullets were fired through the front door.· With Emma he had played with fire and narrowly escaped burning.· Read in studio A baby boy narrowly escaped death when his pram was crushed between a car and a garden wall.· A teenage mail-room worker at the Anglian Water headquarters in Huntingdon narrowly escaped injury when the package she was handling exploded.
VERB· A second jet disaster was narrowly averted in Bogota on Thursday.
· He sped away with them still on amber, narrowly avoiding a car coming the other way.· And Chrysler narrowly avoided a major strike in August at its Detroit axle plant, another aging factory targeted for shutdown.· This was narrowly avoided by producing a new programming scheme, involving local sponsorship as the future funders of individual exhibitions.· It almost caused numerous accidents, here narrowly avoiding a head-on collision.· An assault on the office building angered the men in the yard and violence was narrowly avoided.· Two children in the car were rescued unhurt, and a woman inside the house narrowly avoided being hit by debris.
· Although they were narrowly beaten it was a super effort by the team.· Bush narrowly beat Bill Clinton, 38 percent to 37 percent.· It narrowly beat much bigger rival and fellow supermarkets group J Sainsbury to the top slot, and outshone Tesco.· In 1995, Giftrust narrowly beat the S & P 500.· Odds-on favourite last time at Haydock, he was narrowly beaten into third place, but tomorrow should prove third time lucky.
· A motion on the opening day to put the work of the government to a vote of no confidence was narrowly defeated.· Although they spent only $ 160,600 on their campaign, they narrowly defeated the proposition 51-49 percent.· Our team was narrowly defeated in this year's area final.· The housing project, which had been approved by the town council, was narrowly defeated by public vote.· Auroux narrowly defeated the rival candidate, Henri Emmanuelli, by 113 votes to 109.· Wilder narrowly defeated his Republican opponent in November 1989, his 6,700-vote victory being confirmed only after a recount.· Mrs Field's amendment was narrowly defeated by votes to 21.
· It was a means of social improvement along narrowly defined routes, usually connected with the construction industry.· Clinical managers have more narrowly defined responsibilities than generalists and have training and / or experience in a specific clinical area.· The exceptional circumstances in which execution may be refused are very narrowly defined.· Competition chili has no filler; it is simple, basic, and narrowly defined.· In addition, school-to-work initiatives designed for narrowly defined occupations or industries may fail to attract students.· No longer will it be sufficient to be good in a narrowly defined technical specialty.
· For a moment Trent and Mariana were held immobile, stunned by the incredible power from which they had so narrowly escaped.· During the war he narrowly escaped death dozens of times.· In 1949 he narrowly escaped the first of three attempts on his life.· Looking to her heart, she sees the chasm left by a death she narrowly escaped.· Harassed by the nomad Scythians, whom he could not catch, he narrowly escaped the fate of Cyrus.· Knowingly or not, others have narrowly escaped Pottker.· He addressed a crowd of his civilian supporters at Baabda on Oct. 12, when he only narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.· In both cases, the journalists narrowly escaped injury but the houses from which they had been transmitting were devastated.
· It is too narrowly focused and costly.· The analyst was a prisoner of his own narrowly focused ambition.
· It is sobering to recall that Messrs Henderson, Cartledge and Bukovsky narrowly lost the debate.
· It narrowly misses the corner of an executive's brief case.· She narrowly missed adding to the silverware in both the mixed and women's doubles too.· Two or three weeks ago, a crossbow quarrel narrowly missed my face as we crossed the Lawnmarket.· One girl had a lucky escape when a fence post narrowly missed her head.· It narrowly missed one of the occupants who was sitting in the front room.· Bardot was still recovering from shock after narrowly missing being shot earlier this year by hunters killing her pets.· John Hutt fled down the small village main street, narrowly missing two elderly ladies.
· The council voted narrowly last month to rejoin the devolved government.· In the referendum the population of Western Samoa voted narrowly in favour of the introduction of universal suffrage.
· In 1916 he had only narrowly won re-election.· The committee is widely expected to recommend punishments light enough to let Gingrich retain the speakership he narrowly won on Tuesday.
He was narrowly defeated in the election. One bullet struck his car, narrowly missing him. A man narrowly escaped death when a fire broke out in his home on Sunday morning.2in a limited way OPP broadly: The law is being interpreted too narrowly. These big general issues should be broken down into more narrowly focused questions.