narrow down

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

To reduce a list of options to a smaller, more manageable set

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Giảm danh sách lựa chọn xuống một tập hợp nhỏ hơn, dễ quản lý hơn

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: to make narrower
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

We need to narrow down the list of candidates for the job

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “narrow down” mean?

To reduce a list of options to a smaller, more manageable set Literally: to make narrower

Is “narrow down” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.