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• broad
  broad

  adjective

  of great breadth.
• Broad
  Broad

  noun

  C(harlie) D(unbar), 1887–1971, English philosopher.

broad

¹ American  

[brawd] / brɔd /

adjective

• broader,
  comparative
• broadest
  superlative

1. of great breadth.

   The river was too broad to swim across.

   Antonyms:

   narrow

2. measured from side to side.

   The desk was three feet broad.

3. of great extent; large.

   the broad expanse of ocean.

   Synonyms:

   vast, ample, extensive

4. wide-open; full.

   We awoke to broad daylight.

5. not limited or narrow; of extensive range or scope.

   A modern doctor must have a broad knowledge of medicine.

   Synonyms:

   open, wide, extensive

6. liberal; tolerant.

   A broad interpretation of the law tempers justice with mercy.

7. main or general.

   the broad outlines of a subject.

8. plain or clear.

   Her remark was a broad hint of her feelings.

9. outspoken; plain-spoken.

10. indelicate; indecent.

    He smirked at the broad joke.

    Synonyms:

    gross

11. (of conversation) rough; countrified.

12. unconfined; unbridled; unrestrained;

    It was a hilarious evening of broad mirth.

13. (of pronunciation) strongly dialectal.

    He wore kilts and had a broad Scots accent.

14. Phonetics. (of a transcription) using one basic symbol to represent each phoneme.

15. broad a, the a- sound when used in lieu of the more common a- sound in such words as half, can't, and laugh.

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adverb

1. fully.

   He was broad awake.

noun

• broads
  plural

1. the broad part of anything.

2. Slang.

   1. Usually Offensive. a term used to refer to a woman.

   2. a promiscuous woman.

3. Movies, Television. Often broads. an incandescent or fluorescent lamp used as a general source of light in a studio.

4. a gold coin of England and Scotland, issued by James I and Charles I and equal to 20 shillings.

idioms

1. broad on the quarter, bearing 135° to the heading of a vessel.

2. broad on the bow, bearing 45° to the heading of a vessel.

3. broad on the beam, bearing 90° to the heading of a vessel.

Broad ² American  

[brawd] / brɔd /

noun

1. C(harlie) D(unbar), 1887–1971, English philosopher.

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broad British  

/ brɔːd /

adjective

1. having relatively great breadth or width

2. of vast extent; spacious

   a broad plain

3. (postpositive) from one side to the other

   four miles broad

4. of great scope or potential

   that invention had broad applications

5. not detailed; general

   broad plans

6. clear and open; full (esp in the phrase broad daylight )

7. obvious or plain

   broad hints

8. liberal; tolerant

   a broad political stance

9. widely spread; extensive

   broad support

10. outspoken or bold

    a broad manner

11. vulgar; coarse; indecent

    a broad joke

12. unrestrained; free

    broad laughter

13. (of a dialect or pronunciation) consisting of a large number of speech sounds characteristic of a particular geographical area

    a broad Yorkshire accent

14. finance denoting an assessment of liquidity as including notes and coin in circulation with the public, banks' till money and balances, most private-sector bank deposits, and sterling bank-deposit certificates Compare narrow

    broad money

15. phonetics

    1. of or relating to a type of pronunciation transcription in which symbols correspond approximately to phonemes without taking account of allophonic variations

    2. the long vowel in English words such as father , half , as represented in the received pronunciation of Southern British English

16. amounting to the same thing; without advantage either way

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noun

1. the broad part of something

2. slang

   1. a girl or woman

   2. a prostitute

3. dialect a river spreading over a lowland See also Broads

4. dialect a shallow lake

5. a wood-turning tool used for shaping the insides and bottoms of cylinders

adverb

1. widely or fully

   broad awake

broad More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing broad

• can't hit the broad side of a barn

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Sensitive Note

When used to refer to a woman, broad is usually perceived as insulting. The meaning “promiscuous woman” is probably the earlier sense.

Synonym Usage

See wide.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• broadness
  noun
• broadish
  adjective
• overbroad
  adjective
• broadly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• broads
  plural

Adjectives

• broader
  comparative
• broadest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of broad

First recorded before 1000; Middle English bro(a)d, Old English brād; cognate with Dutch breed, German breit, Old Norse breithr, Gothic braiths

Explanation

The adjective broad boasts an extensive — you might even say broad — array of subtly different meanings including wide, spacious, far-reaching, vague, and unsubtle. It's kind of funny that the word broad can communicate such an expansive range of ideas since expansive is, in fact, a synonym for broad. This adjective can be used to describe actual physical spaces. A broad highway, for example, would be difficult to cross because of all the cars in the many lanes of the road. The word can also be used more figuratively. American history covers a broad range of topics and events. A broad-minded person is open to new ideas, while broad humor aims for a mass audience with obvious gags and stunts.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

broad Broad broads broader broadest

“The exponential scaling of LLM capabilities and AI’s full potential productivity impact suggest a broad and meaningful opportunity for value creation,” the analysts wrote, referring to large language models, a technical term for AI models.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026

That changes when the researchers illuminate many regions at once with a broad laser beam.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 24, 2026

The 10-year benchmark, which has a broad impact on borrowing costs across the economy, rose as high as 5.14% Wednesday, an intraday level last seen in July 2007.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

The deal reaffirms the sovereignty of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, but grants the US broad access to the island's airspace and territory.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

She dipped her head to take the burden he guided onto her broad back and felt clutching hands on her mane.

From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda

But by 15:00, no-one at base camp had had any contact with the group on Broad Peak.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

By the time Mingma G reached the next camp on K2, his team had not heard from the Broad Peak climbers.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

One of the Broad Peak climbers, Wang Zhong, was a close friend and a client.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

The Broad museum is launching a new educational initiative, it announced on Saturday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026

Malcolm dug the paddle into the water with all his strength and kept the little craft upright, but at the cost of missing the turn into Broad Street.

From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman

“Us old broads are trying to learn the new technology because, I mean, we’re kind of trapped,” said Linda Harner, whom I met at the Culver City Senior Center, where she takes a Spanish class.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2022

Hemsby lifeboat service used its flat-bottomed vessel, used to navigate shallow waters of the Norfolk broads, to carry out a rescue of six people.

From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2022

This is a workout for ladies, by which she means older broads who might appreciate the occasional low-impact leg lifts.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 9, 2019

“I think they just bonded over overcoming their experiences, and being great broads, and being tremendous mothers,” she explained.

From Fox News ● Nov. 30, 2018

There I was accustomed to see the broads and rivers frozen over, and the means of communication by boat between the various rivers completely stopped.

From Jethou or Crusoe Life in the Channel Isles by Ernest R. (Ernest Richard) Suffling

The incident at La Verne took place at a smaller facility where solar energy is captured and stored for internal use as opposed to being sent into the broader electrical grid.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

New spending pledged by McDonald’s to help franchisees invest in equipment and operations, part of a broader plan to improve the chain’s food, customer experience and other elements.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

"Gyms offer broader types of exercise, like resistance training, which can improve body composition and shape more quickly than aerobic exercise training," explains exercise expert Dr Andrew Scott, from the University of Portsmouth.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

That smaller dataset was not enough to reveal the broader patterns that are becoming visible with dozens of stars.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 24, 2026

I explained that I was learning to see the world through a broader lens.

From "How Dare the Sun Rise" by Sandra Uwiringiyimana

“The broadest metric I look at is the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index ,” Nuveen’s Close said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026

For investors, this is a reminder of two basic principles: You can’t judge a fund by its name alone, and diverging even slightly from the broadest exposure to stocks can give you startlingly different results.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

That may not necessarily be unique in the broadest span of TV history, but it’s rare enough for the layperson to recognize the difference between a James Burrows show and those of other directors.

From Salon ● Jun. 20, 2026

Streamers are now faced with having to assemble the broadest range of content on their platforms to keep subscribers onboard for longer.

From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026

Thus, questions of the animal origins of human disease lie behind the broadest pattern of human history, and behind some of the most important issues in human health today.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

• comprehensive
• expansive
• extensive
• far-reaching
• sweeping
• universal
• wide
• wide-ranging