broad
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: broadcasting
communications
film
journalism
literature
media
publishing
television
writing
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-der.?
Proto-Germanic *braidaz
Proto-West Germanic *braid
Old English brād
Middle English brod
English broad
From Middle English brood, brode, from Old English brād (“broad, flat, open, extended, spacious, wide, ample, copious”), from Proto-West Germanic *braid, from Proto-Germanic *braidaz (“broad, wide”), of uncertain origin.
Cognates
Cognate with Yola brode (“broad”), North Frisian bread, breeđ, briad, briid, briidj (“wide”), Saterland Frisian and West Frisian breed (“broad, wide”), Bavarian brad, broad (“broad, wide”), Central Franconian and Luxembourgish breet (“broad, wide”), Dutch breed (“broad, wide”), German breit (“broad, wide”), Vilamovian braat (“broad, wide”), Yiddish ברייט (breyt, “broad, wide”), Danish and Swedish bred (“broad, wide”), Faroese and Icelandic breiður (“broad, wide”), Norwegian Bokmål bred, brei (“broad, wide”), Norwegian Nynorsk brei, breid (“broad, wide”), Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (braiþs, “broad, wide”).
Inflected forms:
form: broader
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: broadest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: broads
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Wide in extent or scope.
pos: adj
examples: three feet broad
the broad expanse of ocean
Thus Falstaff, in Shakspeare, is a character of the broadest comedy, giving himself unreservedly to the senses, coolly ignoring the Reason, whilst he invokes its name, pretending to patriotism and to parental virtues, not with any intent to deceive, but only to make the fun perfect by enjoying the confusion betwixt reason and the negation of reason,—in other words, the rank rascaldom he is calling by its name.
Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
Julia Farrington, head of arts at Index on Censorship, argues that extra powers to ban violent videos online will "end up too broad and open to misapplication, which would damage freedom of expression".
Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […] But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three – what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches.
The criterion for positivity was determined for each antigen of each species applying a mixture model to the PP data which assumed two inherent Gaussian distributions: a narrow distribution or seronegatives, and a broader distribution of seropositives.
To meet it, pro-democracy organizations, universities and law firms must bravely speak up against abuses of power while building the broadest possible coalition to stand up for fundamental rights.
gloss: Extended, in the sense of diffused; open; clear; full.
pos: adj
examples: broad and open day
crushing the minds of its victims in the broad and open day
gloss: Having a large measure of any thing or quality; unlimited; unrestrained.
pos: adj
examples: a broad mixture of falsehood
gloss: Comprehensive; liberal; enlarged.
pos: adj
examples: The words in the Constitution are broad enough to include the case.
in a broad, statesmanlike, and masterly way
gloss: Plain; evident.
pos: adj
examples: a broad hint
gloss: General rather than specific.
pos: adj
examples: to be in broad agreement
gloss: Unsubtle; obvious.
pos: adj
examples: Lee: I wrote that line for you. Maeve: A bit broad, if you ask me.
gloss: Free; unrestrained; unconfined.
pos: adj
examples: as broad and general as the casing air
gloss: Gross; coarse; indelicate.
pos: adj
tags: dated
examples: a broad compliment; a broad joke; broad humour
gloss: Strongly regional.
pos: adj
examples: She still has a broad Scottish accent, despite moving to California 20 years ago.
gloss: Velarized, i.e. not palatalized.
pos: adj
gloss: A shallow lake, one of a number of bodies of water in eastern Norfolk and Suffolk.
pos: noun
tags: UK
gloss: A lathe tool for turning down the insides and bottoms of cylinders.
pos: noun
gloss: A British gold coin worth 20 shillings, issued by the Commonwealth of England in 1656.
pos: noun
tags: UK
historical
gloss: A kind of floodlight.
pos: noun
examples: […] fresnel spotlights, old-type broads, sky-pans, cone-lights, etc.
Some broads have barn doors (see page 115) to block gross light spill into other set areas; others have even an adjustable beam, […]
Light bounced from large white surfaces (e.g., matte reflector boards, or a white ceiling). Floodlights include scoops, broads, floodlight, banks, internally reflected units, strip lights, and cyclorama lights.
gloss: A playing card.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
slang
examples: I reckon as old Sol couldn't ha' lived without a pack of broads. If he couldn't find anybody to play with him, he'd play alone, […]
Antonyms: thin
narrow
skinny
all-encompassing
slender
Related words: Bradford
Bradley
Bradshaw
Derived words: Broadland
broadsman
Oulton Broad
Translations: