# \widetilde is too big and \tilde is too small — is there something between?

I just want to place a tilde over $\mathcal{W}$, and $\tilde\mathcal{W}$ is too small while $\widetilde{\mathcal{W}}$ is too big.

Is there a simple way to produce an in-between?

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possible duplicate of How can I manually choose the size of a wide accent? (math mode) –  Leo Liu Aug 4 '11 at 10:50

It's a bit hacky, but does

\usepackage{amsmath}
$\overset{\sim}{\mathcal{W}}$


(which gives ) do what you're after?

Edit:

An alternative with adjustable height is

\newcommand\Wtilde{\stackrel{\sim}{\smash{\mathcal{W}}\rule{0pt}{1.1ex}}}


where you can change 1.1ex to whatever you like.

Note, however, that in this implementation the tilde height is entirely independent of the size of the original W, so you may need to define several versions if you want to do this to lots of different letters.

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That's much better. Can one lower the tilde with \raisebox or the like? –  Glen Wheeler Aug 4 '11 at 10:29
Following @HendrikVogt at tex.stackexchange.com/q/12579/6984 : \newcommand\simcal[1]{\stackrel{\sim}{\smash{\mathcal{#1}}\rule{0pt}{1.1ex}}} lets you write $\simcal{W}$ or whatever, and you can adjust the 1.1ex to suit your spacing preferences. –  Ant Aug 4 '11 at 11:08
PS - a meta-comment: anyone know how I can get the @ syntax to work with Hendrik's username above? Ta. –  Ant Aug 4 '11 at 11:09
On second thoughts, \newcommand\Wtilde{\stackrel{\sim}{\smash{\mathcal{W}}\rule{0pt}{1.1ex}}} is better. In this implementation the spacing is entirely independent of the size of the original letter, so making the letter an argument is not a brilliant idea. –  Ant Aug 4 '11 at 11:15
This is much better (the comments version), could you add it to the answer? It is also much simpler than the (otherwise excellent) suggestion of Leo Liu. –  Glen Wheeler Aug 17 '11 at 14:42

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{accents}
\begin{document}

$\tilde W \widetilde W$

$\accentset{\sim}{W} \accentset{\textstyle\sim}{W}$

\end{document}


That's not very good. For more complicated solution, see How can I manually choose the size of a wide accent? (math mode)

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