What exactly defines a "widget"?

Question

I saw the widget used as a pretty technical term, and the W3C has specifications for it. But Wikipedia says that a widget is just a piece of code that can be reused in different ways. The SE definition for the widget tag does not match any of these descriptions. Which widget then?

Answer 1

I think it depends on the context. On Android, a widget is an application that you can interact with from the home screen. At my work, you can add widgets to your personal intranet home page. But there is also an aspect of software that is usually said to determine the size of the application. Thus, it has several meanings: usually a small GUI element designed for one purpose / application, or a small application as a whole.

Haha, and if you click on the widget tag, it says something like that. Perhaps someone should expand the tag description.