wide-eyed en · ADJ
Meanings
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(figuratively) Astonished or surprised.
The magician’s trick left the audience wide-eyed.
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(figuratively) Naive; innocent; like a baby.
Country life doesn’t protect you from real life. A rural childhood may leave you wide-eyed a bit longer about some things, but it doesn’t confer the insulating innocence that some parents seem to hope.
2014 December 20, Rebecca Ley, “City versus country childhoods”, in The Guardian:
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Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see wide, eye, -ed.
She was like her mother: tiny, curly-haired, and wide-eyed.
2017, Jennifer S. Holland, For These Monkeys, It’s a Fight for Survival., National Geographic (March 2017)http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/03/macaques-monkeys-indonesia-endangered-pet-trade/ Cartoonish, wide-eyed infants cling to their mothers or play together low to the ground.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most wide-eyed | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more wide-eyed | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Relateds
Synonyms
owly-eyed · saucer-eyed · goggle-eyed · moon-eyed · pie-eyed
Translations (7)
fr les yeux ronds (astonished or surprised) · ga súil-leata (astonished or surprised) · pt de olhos arregalados (astonished or surprised) · es ojiplático (astonished or surprised) · sv storögd (astonished or surprised) · fi silmät levällään (astonished or surprised) · pl zrobić wielkie oczy (literally make big eyes̠) (astonished or surprised)