Narrowing
A semantic change process in which a word's meaning becomes more restricted or specific. For example, 'meat' originally meant 'food' in general but narrowed to specifically mean 'animal flesh'.
Real World
The word 'starve' originally meant 'to die' from any cause in Old English, but over centuries it narrowed to mean specifically 'to die from hunger' — reflected in modern headlines about famine crises reported by the BBC.
Exam Focus
When identifying narrowing, always state the original broader meaning and the current restricted meaning to show the direction of change.
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