broad
adjective
of great breadth.
broad
1 American
[brawd]
/ brɔd /
adjective
-
broader,
comparative
-
broadest
superlative
-
of great breadth.
The river was too broad to swim across.
- Antonyms:
- narrow
-
measured from side to side.
The desk was three feet broad.
-
of great extent; large.
the broad expanse of ocean.
-
We awoke to broad daylight.
-
not limited or narrow; of extensive range or scope.
A modern doctor must have a broad knowledge of medicine.
-
A broad interpretation of the law tempers justice with mercy.
-
main or general.
the broad outlines of a subject.
-
plain or clear.
Her remark was a broad hint of her feelings.
-
He smirked at the broad joke.
- Synonyms:
- gross
-
(of conversation) rough; countrified.
-
unconfined; unbridled; unrestrained;
It was a hilarious evening of broad mirth.
-
(of pronunciation) strongly dialectal.
He wore kilts and had a broad Scots accent.
-
Phonetics. (of a transcription) using one basic symbol to represent each phoneme.
-
broad a, the a- sound when used in lieu of the more common a- sound in such words as half, can't, and laugh.
adverb
noun
-
broads
plural
-
the broad part of anything.
-
Slang.
-
Usually Offensive. a term used to refer to a woman.
-
a promiscuous woman.
-
-
Movies, Television. Often broads. an incandescent or fluorescent lamp used as a general source of light in a studio.
-
a gold coin of England and Scotland, issued by James I and Charles I and equal to 20 shillings.
idioms
-
broad on the quarter, bearing 135° to the heading of a vessel.
-
broad on the bow, bearing 45° to the heading of a vessel.
-
broad on the beam, bearing 90° to the heading of a vessel.
Broad
2
American
[brawd]
/ brɔd /
noun
broad
British
/ brɔːd /
adjective
-
having relatively great breadth or width
-
of vast extent; spacious
a broad plain
-
(postpositive) from one side to the other
four miles broad
-
of great scope or potential
that invention had broad applications
-
not detailed; general
broad plans
-
clear and open; full (esp in the phrase broad daylight )
-
obvious or plain
broad hints
-
liberal; tolerant
a broad political stance
-
widely spread; extensive
broad support
-
outspoken or bold
a broad manner
-
vulgar; coarse; indecent
a broad joke
-
unrestrained; free
broad laughter
-
(of a dialect or pronunciation) consisting of a large number of speech sounds characteristic of a particular geographical area
a broad Yorkshire accent
-
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
-
phonetics
-
of or relating to a type of pronunciation transcription in which symbols correspond approximately to phonemes without taking account of allophonic variations
-
the long vowel in English words such as father , half , as represented in the received pronunciation of Southern British English
-
-
amounting to the same thing; without advantage either way
noun
-
the broad part of something
-
slang
-
a girl or woman
-
a prostitute
-
-
dialect a river spreading over a lowland See also Broads
-
dialect a shallow lake
-
a wood-turning tool used for shaping the insides and bottoms of cylinders
adverb
broad
More Idioms
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
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.
Vocabulary lists containing broad
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The Star Spangled Banner
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Mesenchymal stem cell therapies and extracellular vesicles derived from these cells may also provide broad immune-regulating effects.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026
The bottom line: Yet again, we see that it’s incredibly difficult to beat a simple strategy of buying and holding a broad stock-market index fund.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
There is no decisive signal yet that this year’s energy crisis has driven a broad shift away from oil and gas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
One of the most high-profile such incidents was in October last year, when France's crown jewels were stolen in broad daylight from the Louvre in Paris.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
“And here’s some admiring bits about the admiral: stern of jaw, broad of shoulder, never blinks at danger. Sounds like quite a chap.”
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
The River Arts District, a string of old warehouses along the French Broad River that artists turned into studios and galleries over decades, took some of the worst of the flooding.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
But by 15:00, no-one at base camp had had any contact with the group on Broad Peak.
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
Like the Broad, the Norton Simon, Hammer and J. Paul Getty museums, the Lucas Museum is built around a founder’s collection and cultural vision.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Previously, Fischer had successfully guided one 8,000-meter mountain: 26,400-foot Broad Peak in the Karakoram Range of Pakistan, in 1995.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
“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
There were broads smiles and a joyful unity.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 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
He had with him his Jewish servant, Hayim Ben Attar, and his Arabian horse, Sidi Habismilk, both of which were to astonish the natives of the Suffolk broads.
From George Borrow and His Circle Wherein May Be Found Many Hitherto Unpublished Letters Of Borrow And His Friends by Clement King Shorter
In the AI era, he pared down his senior leadership team, while giving each person broader responsibilities, he explained.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
That said, Lerner believes broader participation in the rally would strengthen the bull market further as equity markets “are generally healthier” when a wider group of stocks is advancing.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
Even so, the broader strategy may have wide potential.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
That’s why we’re cautiously hopeful that after the midterms, Congress will seize the opportunity to make prior authorization and broader insurance marketplace reforms a priority.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026
The bear had been going at a gallop, as the pattern of prints was reversed, with the man-shaped hind tracks in front of the broader front tracks.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
In court earlier on Wednesday, Pike's lawyers secured a legal win by convincing a judge to order the state to preserve the broadest amount of evidence possible from the US death row inmate's botched execution.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
“From an investment perspective, this may reinforce the company’s competitive positioning as the broadest retail ecosystem in the United States.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
The Fed pays much less attention to aggregate demand and nominal gross domestic product, which is the broadest measure of current dollar spending.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 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
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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
