Which statement is an example of semantic narrowing?

• A. The word meat narrowed from all food to animal flesh only
• B. The word holiday broadened to any vacation
• C. The word nice became more positive
• D. The word literally used as intensifier

Answer: (A)

Semantic narrowing is when a word’s meaning becomes more restricted over time. The example with meat shows this clearly: originally meat referred to any kind of food, but now it’s used mainly for animal flesh. That reduction in the range of things the word can refer to is exactly narrowing.

The other statements describe widening or shifts in meaning that aren’t narrowing: holiday’s meaning has expanded to cover any vacation, nice has become more positive in tone, and literally has shifted to function as an intensifier—each of these changes broadens or alters usage rather than shrinking its scope.