wide open

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
wide/wʌɪd/

▶adjective (wider, widest)

• 1 of great or more than average width.

  ■ (after a measurement and in questions) from side to side.

  ■ open to the full extent: wide eyes.

• 2 including a great variety of people or things.

  ■ spread among a large number or over a large area: wider share ownership.

  ■ considering or dealing with the more general aspects of a situation, issue, etc.

  ■ [in combination] extending over the whole of: industry-wide.

• 3 at a considerable or specified distance from a point or mark.

  ■ (especially in football) at or near the side of the field.

▶adverb

• 1 to the full extent.

• 2 far from a particular point or mark.

  ■ (especially in football) at or near the side of the field.

▶noun (also wide ball) Cricket a ball that is judged to be too wide of the stumps for the batsman to play.

– phrases
wide awake fully awake.
wide of the mark a long way from an intended target.

■ inaccurate.

wide open

• 1 (of a contest) of which the outcome is not predictable.

• 2 vulnerable to attack.

– derivatives
widely adverb,
wideness noun,
widish adjective.

– origin OE wīd ‘spacious, extensive’, wīde ‘over a large area’, of Gmc origin.