Semantic broadening
The process by which a word's meaning becomes wider or more general over time. Broadening makes words apply to more contexts.
Real World
The word 'bird' originally referred only to young birds or chicks in Old English ('bridd'), but broadened over centuries to apply to all adult birds — a classic case of semantic generalisation.
Exam Focus
Specify the original narrow meaning and the expanded modern range — vague answers about words 'changing' will not score highly.
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