broom
Americannoun
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an implement for sweeping, consisting of a brush of straw or stiff strands of synthetic material bound tightly to the end of a long handle.
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any shrubby plant belonging to the genus Genista or the genus Cytisus, of the legume family, especially C. scoparius, common in Western Europe on uncultivated ground and having long, slender branches bearing yellow flowers.
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Building Trades. the crushed and spread part at the head of a wooden pile after driving.
verb (used with object)
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to sweep.
Broom the porch.
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to splinter or fray mechanically.
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to crush and spread the top of (a piling, tent peg, etc.) by pounding or driving with a hammer or the like.
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to brush (freshly poured concrete) with a broom to give a nonskid surface, as to walks or driveways.
verb (used without object)
noun
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an implement for sweeping consisting of a long handle to which is attached either a brush of straw, bristles, or twigs, bound together, or a solid head into which are set tufts of bristles or fibres
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any of various yellow-flowered Eurasian leguminous shrubs of the genera Cytisus , Genista , and Spartium , esp C. scoparius
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any of various similar Eurasian plants of the related genera Genista and Spartium
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a newly appointed official, etc, eager to make changes
verb
Pronunciation
Broom and room occur with the vowel of fool or of book. The first is the more common. The pronunciation with the of book is found in New England, eastern Virginia, and South Carolina and Georgia alongside the pronunciation. Farther west the pronunciation is more common, though the pronunciation with the vowel of book occurs everywhere with no marked regional or social pattern. Both pronunciations occur in British standard and folk speech. The pronunciation with predominates in the eastern counties, everywhere else. London lies on the boundary between the two types, and it is thus not surprising that is found in the United States in the coastal areas that had long and close contact with England.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of broom
before 1000; Middle English brome, Old English brōm; cognate with Dutch braam bramble, German Bram broom
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:
The trailer also teased Harry’s acceptance letter from Hogwarts and his wand and Nimbus broom.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
When the AI reported “a person is jumping from the roof of a house,” it was Soderstrom again, this time standing up quickly in the lanai and grabbing a hose or broom, she recalled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
He asked them to bring their “tools” — broom, stethoscope, an oxygen tank—and posed them against a lightly wrinkled cloth backdrop with natural light.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
The Department of Homeland Security initially said a federal officer shot a man in the leg after being attacked with a shovel and broom handle by three migrants on 14 January.
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2026
At that speed, they were also going fast enough to send Jack tumbling right off the back of the broom.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
Staff and volunteers, recruited with support from the council office, were about to head into nearby streets with shovels, brooms and trash bags.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2026
"Afterwards, the community really rallied around, there were people turning up with brooms, brushes to help with the clean-up," he said of the unrest in August.
From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2025
The goats have gotten loose half a dozen times, and Paszterko’s family has helped Wilcox round them up using brooms, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2024
“We put in a pantry with a giant divider down the side. Half of it has pullout shelves for food storage, and the other half can hold things like brooms and vacuums.”
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 19, 2024
At night, hours later, the cleanup men would arrive with brooms and hoses.
From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien
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.
