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• broad gauge
  broad gauge

  noun

  gauge15
• broad-gauge
  broad-gauge

  adjective

  of or relating to equipment designed for a railroad having track of a broad gauge.

broad gauge

¹ American  

especially in technical use, broad gage

noun

Railroads.

1. gauge15

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broad-gauge ² American  

[brawd-geyj] / ˈbrɔdˌgeɪdʒ /

Or broad-gauged

adjective

1. Railroads. of or relating to equipment designed for a railroad having track of a broad gauge.

   broad-gauge rolling stock.

2. of wide scope, application, or experience.

   broad-gauge efforts to improve the health of our citizens.

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broad gauge British  

noun

1. a railway track with a greater distance between the lines than the standard gauge of 56 1/ 2 inches (about 1.44 metres) used now by most mainline railway systems

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or denoting a railway having this track

Etymology

Origin of broad gauge¹

First recorded in 1835–45

Origin of broad-gauge²

1835–45, for an earlier sense

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

broad gauge broad-gauge

The Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing index, a broad gauge of manufacturing activity, has been above the threshold for manufacturing-sector expansion for seven straight months.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

The business outlook survey index - a broad gauge of how firms feel about their prospects - hit -3.51, the lowest since the -6.16 seen in the second quarter of 2020.

From Reuters ● Oct. 16, 2023

The first logistical nightmare is shifting wagons or their loads from broad gauge tracks - 1,524mm wide, in use in the former Soviet Union - to narrower European gauge - 1,432mm wide.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2022

MSCI’s broad gauge of regional markets outside Japan fell more than 2% to its lowest level since November 2020.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 27, 2022

The narrow gauge is kept up for the use of the Mahoning trains, freight and passenger, while the broad gauge is used by the Atlantic and Great Western through trains.

From Cleveland Past and Present Its Representative Men by Maurice Joblin

Poland has a 400-kilometer broad-gauge railway linking Ukraine with its industrial southwest region of Silesia.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 5, 2022

Galati is connected by the broad-gauge railway that’s compatible with the Ukrainian system and may facilitate the quicker rerouting of grains.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 5, 2022

For a broad-gauge company, MaxMara has been far more adventurous in recent seasons than maybe has been acknowledged.

From New York Times ● Sep. 21, 2012

That is sort of the broad-gauge intelligence gathering that many people are very worried about.

From Salon ● Mar. 12, 2011

For variety, I took the broad-gauge road, but found little difference in the country through which we passed.

From In Indian Mexico (1908) by Frederick Starr