The phrase "a widespread thing" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe something that is common or prevalent in a particular context or situation.
Example: "The use of smartphones has become a widespread thing in modern society."
Alternatives: "a common occurrence" or "a prevalent phenomenon".
"The phantom cell phone is such a widespread thing," Linden says.
"If it was a widespread thing in Virginia," Paul said, "it must have been a widespread thing in Texas". He started tweeting what he found, including images from the 1920s of blackface and the KKK.
The more we look into it, the more it looks like a widespread thing across many manufacturers.
"I think it's difficult for a musical movement happening now to be such a widespread thing, where everything else is swept aside," Goddard says with an air of regret.
Postmates is looking to expand its business and make mobile, on-demand deliveries a widespread thing throughout cities around the country — that we already know.
But WHO THE HELL were those girls that decided to agree to this whole phenomenon and make it a widespread thing?
However, it was not a "hugely widespread thing in the north east for us to be concerned about", she added.
But as discontent becomes more widespread, things are coming to a head.
"The one positive thing that this week has so far thrown light on is that there is a widespread recognition that things cannot stay the same".
The last days of Jimmy Carter's Presidency were marked by rising unemployment, soaring inflation, and a widespread belief that things were only getting worse.
Nichols has felt something in the American atmosphere — economic uncertainties, extreme weather, a widespread impression of things sliding out of control — and crystallized it into domestic drama and visual fantasia.
