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abroad

Sayuh-BRAWD/əˈbɹɔd/UK/əˈbɹɔːd/

9 meanings of abroad

Practice

  1. 1
    adverb
    In or to a foreign country, outside your own.

    She has lived abroad for almost ten years.

    We are planning to travel abroad next summer.

    Similaroverseas

    Note
  2. 2
    adverb
    Confused, mistaken, or far from what is correct.

    His answer was completely abroad, and he had misunderstood the whole question.

    After the knock to his head, his thoughts were all abroad.

    Similaradrift, astray, wrong

  3. 3
    adverb
    At the other team's field, not at your home one.

    The next game is abroad, at the rival school's gym.

    They lost the first match at home but won the one played abroad.

    Similaraway

    Oppositehome

    Note
  4. 4
    preposition
    Spread across or through all parts of a place.

    A strange quiet settled abroad the valley that night.

    Snow lay thick abroad the fields for most of the week.

    Similarthroughout, across, over

  5. 5
    adjectivenonstandard
    International, or having to do with more than one country.

    He works for a big abroad company with offices everywhere.

    They discussed abroad trade at the meeting.

    Similarinternational, foreign, overseas

    Oppositedomestic

    Note
  6. 6
    noundialectalScotlanduncountable
    Foreign countries thought of together as one place.

    He spent years dreaming of the abroad he had never seen.

    I hate abroad, abroad’s bloody.
    1929, King George V, widely (and variously) quotedHere, abroad refers to foreign countries thought of as one place.
    Note

Less common meanings

  1. 7
    adverbdated
    Outside the house, away from home.

    He was up early and abroad before the rest of the household woke.

    I went to St. James', where another was preaching in the court abroad.
    John Evelyn, Diary, Frederic Warne and CompanyHere, abroad means outdoors, out in the open air.

    Similarout, outdoors, outside

    Oppositeindoors, inside

    Note
  2. 8
    adverbdated
    Spreading around among people and widely known or talked about.

    A strange rumor was abroad in the town that morning.

    This Peece, or Schisme of Suicisme, and Selfishnesse, hath spawned most of the Heresies and Schismes, that are abroad in the World.
    1654, Richard Whitlock, ZootomiaHere, abroad means going around among people, found widely.

    Similararound, about, afoot

    Note
  3. 9
    adverbdated
    Spread out over a wide area, in many directions.

    The farmer scattered the seeds abroad over the open ground.

    "Faither!" I cried as I undid the bolt and pushed the leaves of the door abroad, "Faither, ye are welcome hame!"
    1895, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, The Men of the Moss-hagsHere, abroad means wide open, spread out to each side.

    Similarwidely, wide, broadly

    Note

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English abrood, meaning "widely scattered." It comes from a- ("on, in") plus brood ("broad").