In this blog post, you are going to learn all about words we use to talk about distances and dimensions.

For example: “the swimming pool is very deep”.

Broad and wide and tall and high

Wide – extending a great distance from one side to the other : not narrow. Ex: “My room has great wide windows, there’s always a lot of light in here.”

Broad – large from one side to the other side.

Ex: “Mr. Smith has a broad knowledge of the education system”

We use “wide” more commonly than “broad”.

Tall – greater in height than the average person, building, etc.

Ex: “Dean is very tall for his age”

High – rising or extending upward a great distance. Ex: “The Himalayas are very high mountains”

We use “tall” for people and “high” for objects and things.

Deep and shallow

Deep –

Ex: “The sea is very deep here, so you can see a lot of different types of fish”

Shallow –

Ex: “The three students were reading in the shallow end of the school garden”

Derived words, phrases and compounds

Long

Length – the distance from one end of something to the other end : a measurement of how long something is.

Ex: “Measure the length of the wall, then we’ll know how much paper we need”

Lengthen – to become longer.

Ex: “You must try to lengthen my skirt, it’s too short”

Short

Shorten – to become shorter.

Ex: “If you take that way, it’ll shorten your way to the hospital”

Wide

Width – the distance from one side of something to the other side : a measurement of how wide something is.

Ex: “The width of the room allowed for only 2 chairs and a table.”

Widening – to become wide or wider

Ex: “The hole in Nick’s T-shirt is widening, soon it’ll be huge”

Broad

Broaden – to make (something) wider or more general.

Ex: “Reading and travel broadens the mind”

Broad-minded – willing to accept opinions, beliefs, or behaviors that are unusual or different from your own.

Ex: “Broad-minded people are open people, they like to experience new things, visit new places and make new friends”

High

Height – a measurement of how tall a person or thing is : the distance from the bottom to the top of a person or thing.

Ex: “The height of that shelf is two metres”

Low

Lower – located below another or others of the same kind.

Ex: “Could you lower your prices? It’s a bit expensive”

Deep

Depth – a distance below a surface.

Ex: “The depth of the Amazon river is over 20 metres”

More dimension words:

Stretch – to continue for a specified distance: to extend over an area.

Ex: “The road stretches all the way down the hill”

Spreading – to become larger or to affect a larger area : to move into more places.

Ex: “The city is growing very fast and spreading all over the sea shore.”

Shrink – to make (something) smaller in amount, size, or value.

Ex: “The forest is shrinking due to deforestation”

I hope you are able to use words for distances and dimensions more confidently after reading this post.