Word: broadcast Part of Speech: verb Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-der.? Proto-Germanic *braidaz Proto-West Germanic *braid Old English brād Middle English brod English broad Proto-Germanic *kas- Proto-Germanic *kastōną Old Norse kastabor. Middle English casten English cast English broadcast From broad + cast. First attested in the mid 18th century, in the agricultural use of spreading seeds. Pronunciation: /ˈbɹɔːd(ˌ)kɑːst/, /ˈbɹoːd(ˌ)kɑːst/, /ˈbɹɔːd(ˌ)kast/, /ˈbɾɔd(ˌ)kast/, /ˈbɹɔd(ˌ)kæst/ 1. To transmit a message or signal through radio waves or electronic means. Labels: transitive Example: When the boys reached the business section of Bayport they found that Jackley's confession had already become known. The local radio station had broadcast it in the afternoon news program and people everywhere were discussing it. Example: Practicing vocational service to the limit of one's vision makes a difference whether an employer regards his employees as "robots or human beings"; it makes a difference in the kind of advertisements he publishes or broadcasts; it makes a difference how he reacts under pressure from a competitor; it makes a difference in the quality of his service. 2. To transmit a message over a wide area. Labels: transitive Example: The break with imperialism and the liberation of Russia from the predatory war, the publication of the secret treaties and the solemn abrogation of the policy of seizing foreign soil, the proclamation of national freedom and the recognition of the independence of Finland, the declaration of Russia as a "Federation of Soviet National Republics" and the militant battle-cry of a resolute struggle against imperialism broadcast all over the world by the Soviet government in millions of pamphlets, newspapers, and leaflets in the mother tongues of the peoples of the East and West—all this could not fail to have its effect on the enslaved East and the bleeding West. Example: However, truth and lies can usually be confirmed or denied by speaking with eyewitnesses of events in order to verify what took place. The amount of time separating the event in question from when it was broadcasted also makes a difference. 3. To transmit a message over a wide area. Labels: specifically, transitive Example: Urban legend has it that someone is monitoring all those e-mails broadcast from your work address. Hard to imagine a more boring job but the truth is, and I shouldn't have to tell people this, the record of those e-mails is in a server somewhere and it can be monitored. 4. To appear as a performer, presenter, or speaker in a broadcast programme. Labels: intransitive Example: She [Françoise Dolto] is most well known in France for her broadcasts on France-Inter, Lorsque l'enfant parait; she broadcasted for twelve minutes every day of the week for two years, answering parents' questions. 5. To sow seeds over a wide area. Labels: archaic, transitive Example: I ſhall content myſelf, […] to ſay that the ſeed ſhoud be ſown in the garden, or very good ground, in rows, or broadcaſt, and as ſoon as the plants are of the ſize of a gooſe-quill, to be tranſplanted in rows of eighteen inches diſtance, and eighteen inches apart, one plant from the other: […] Example: I wanted to grow my own cut flowers for the big day so three months earlier I broadcasted an annual seed mix across a few recently cleared borders.