Narrowly means by only a small amount or margin. When a soccer team wins narrowly, they might score just one more goal than their opponent in the final seconds. When you narrowly avoid stepping in a puddle, your shoe misses the water by mere inches.

The word captures that sense of “just barely” or “by the skin of your teeth.” A student who narrowly passes a test scraped by with the minimum passing score. A runner who narrowly loses a race might cross the finish line only a fraction of a second behind the winner. These situations involve such small differences that the outcome could have easily gone the other way.

Narrowly can also mean in a limited or restricted way, though this meaning appears less often in everyday conversation. When someone thinks narrowly about a problem, they focus on only one small aspect instead of seeing the bigger picture. A person who defines success narrowly might think only about money, missing other important things like friendship or learning.

The most common use emphasizes those heart-pounding moments where things almost went differently: the cyclist who narrowly avoided a crash, the hiker who narrowly made it back before dark, or the championship decided by a single point.