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You are here: Home / Language / What Does the Expression “Straight and Narrow” Mean and Where Did the Idiom Come From?

What Does the Expression “Straight and Narrow” Mean and Where Did the Idiom Come From?

March 12, 2020 by Karen Hill

Someone on the “straight and narrow” is living a legal, moral, and disciplined life.

The expression was referred to in The Pilgrim’s Progress by English writer John Bunyan (1628-1688).

In that inspirational book, Pilgrim, the representative of everyman, must follow the “straight and narrow.”

The phrase has a biblical origin in Matthew 7:14:

“Broad is the way that is the path of destruction but narrow is the gate and straight is the way that leadeth to the house of God.”

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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