broad
adjective
of great breadth.
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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
Beowulf vocabulary
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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:
Further research also is needed on a bigger sample size to see how the study correlates to a broad population.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Shortening the ballot-curing window, Alexander said, would probably require a broader discussion with election stakeholders and is contingent on there being broad voter access to electronic signature-curing options, which are not in place yet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
Although the tumors frequently activated the same broad pathway, they did not all evolve in the same way.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
It’s written in a broad way that could entangle Congress in other aspects of city governance, which probably isn’t a good use of lawmakers’ time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Nathan leaned forward and wrapped as much of his arms as he could around the water monster’s broad neck.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
Broad adoption of alternative assets is indeed the administration’s goal.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
The project was a collaboration among researchers at Harvard, the Broad Institute, DNA Script, and later POSTECH.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
Broad selling across tech cost the Nasdaq nearly 2 percentage points over two days.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
A Broad visitor experience team member, whose first name is Ash, was especially touched by a wish written in Spanish.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
They crossed Broad Street and took the long way home, through the narrow lanes behind the school.
From "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau
There are three broads areas of concern the players want addressing:
From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2026
“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
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
Every year, about this time, it was our practice to go in a house-boat over the broads of Samalda.
From The Home and the World by Tagore, Rabindranath
Together, they could turn a temporary jump in energy prices into a broader inflation problem and put new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh in a difficult position.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Shortening the ballot-curing window, Alexander said, would probably require a broader discussion with election stakeholders and is contingent on there being broad voter access to electronic signature-curing options, which are not in place yet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
Tens of thousands of protesters, mainly students, rallied last week in New Delhi and other cities, demanding Pradhan's resignation and broader reforms of the examination system.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
The searches showed Claude chats for which a user had decided to "share" a link had been saved by search engines like Google, leaving them accessible to the broader public.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Her shoulders, broader than mine, the capable clever hands.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
David Hockney, who has died aged 88, was Britain's favourite artist - and a man of trenchant views, expressed in the broadest of Yorkshire vowels.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
Well, okay: In the absolute broadest possible sense, the photos are about her kids growing up.
From Salon ● Jun. 4, 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
The S&P 500 finished nearly 74 points higher on Wednesday, taking the broadest measure of U.S. blue-chip shares to the highest level on record and extending its April advance to a staggering 9.3%.
From Barron's ● Apr. 23, 2026
That makes it the leading cause of history’s broadest pattern.
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.
