# broad

Pronunciation: say "BRAWD" US /bɹɔd/, UK /bɹɔːd/

## Adjective

1. Wide in extent from side to side, or large in scope or range.
   - Simple: Wide from side to side, or covering a large area or range.
   - _The river is too broad to swim across at this point._
   - _The course covers a broad range of topics, from contract law to ethics._
2. General rather than specific; concerned with the overall picture rather than fine details.
   - Simple: Covering many things in a general way, without small details.
   - _She offered a broad overview of the budget before turning to the detailed figures._
   - _In broad terms, the agreement commits both countries to cutting emissions._
3. Covering a wide range; extensive and not narrowly limited, as powers, a curriculum or a person's sympathies.
   - Simple: Covering many things or allowing a lot, not narrow or limited.
   - _The emergency act granted the governor broad authority over public spaces._
   - _Editors here enjoy broad discretion in choosing which stories to pursue._
4. Extended and diffused; open, clear, and full, as of daylight spread over everything.
   - Simple: Spread out fully and openly, the way daylight fills everything.
   - _The robbery took place in broad daylight on a busy street._
   - _Thieves broke into the parked car in broad daylight while shoppers walked right past it._
5. Of humor, writing, or acting, obvious and unsubtle, sometimes to the point of coarseness.
   - Simple: Of jokes or acting, very obvious and not subtle, sometimes a bit rude.
   - _The sitcom favors broad physical comedy over sharp dialogue._
   - _Critics found the film's villains broad to the point of caricature._
6. Strongly regional in character, especially of an accent or way of speaking.
   - Simple: Showing very strongly the way people from one area speak.
   - _The innkeeper greeted them in a broad Yorkshire accent._
   - _His vowels turned broader whenever he visited his cousins in Maine._
8. Plain and evident; clear enough to be noticed or understood at once.
   - Simple: Very clear and easy to notice or understand.
   - _The chairman dropped a broad hint that layoffs were coming._
   - _He gave a broad wink to show the threat was only a joke._
9. Free and unrestrained; not confined, checked, or held within limits.
   - Simple: Free and open, not held back or kept inside limits.

## Noun

7. A woman or girl; a dated American slang term now widely considered disrespectful. *(dated, US)*
   - Simple: An old American slang word for a woman. Many people now find it rude.
   - _'Some broad in a red coat came in asking for you,' the bartender said._
   - _The old movies are full of fast-talking broads who outsmart the leading men._
10. A prostitute, or a woman regarded as having loose morals; a dated, derogatory use. *(dated)*
   - Simple: An old insulting word for a woman who sells sex, or for one thought to have loose morals.
   - _In the old pulp novel, a cop tells the broads working the corner outside the bar to move along._
   - _In the gritty 1940s film, the hotel clerk ignores the broad who brings paying customers up the back stairs._
11. A playing card; an archaic slang use associated with gamblers and cardsharps. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: An old slang word for a playing card.

## Other meanings

- (noun) Any of a group of shallow lakes in the eastern parts of Norfolk and Suffolk, England.
- (noun) A type of floodlight used in film and television production to light a wide area.
- (noun) A tool used on a lathe to cut and finish the interior walls and base of a cylinder.
- (noun) A 20-shilling gold coin issued by the Commonwealth of England in 1656.
- (adjective) Of a consonant in the Gaelic languages: not palatalized, and often pronounced with the back of the tongue raised toward the soft palate.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–6, 8–9, 11** — From Middle English brood, from Old English brād ("broad, flat, open, wide, ample"), from Proto-West Germanic *braid and Proto-Germanic *braidaz ("broad"), of uncertain origin. It is related to Dutch breed, German breit, and Swedish bred.
**Meanings 7, 10** — The word appeared in American English in the early 20th century. It may come from "broad hips," or from abroadwife, meaning a woman living or traveling without her husband. Bride, or its German cognate Braut ("bride," and also "young woman"), may have influenced it as well.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/broad (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).