Made something wider or broader, or became wider in extent or scope.
From Old English 'wid' meaning 'wide,' combined with the verb suffix '-en' and past tense '-ed.' The root possibly comes from Proto-Indo-European meaning 'to separate.'
When roads are widened, traffic often increases to fill the new space, creating paradoxically worse congestion—an effect so common it's called 'induced demand' and challenges our intuitions about infrastructure solutions.
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