broadcast

BRAWD-kast/ˈbɹɔdkæst/UKBRAWD-kahst/ˈbɹɔːdkɑːst/

Pluralbroadcasts

Verbbroadcasts, broadcasting, broadcast

13 meanings of broadcast

Practice

1
nouncountable
A radio or TV show sent out over the air for anyone with a set to pick up.
Like a letter sent to everyone in town at the same time.
The evening news broadcast reaches millions of homes.
Many people listened to the radio broadcast during the storm.
Similartransmission, telecast
2
verbtransitive
To send out a message or signal using radio waves or electronics.
Like shouting news so loudly that the whole town hears at once.
Local stations broadcast the warning to every household.
They broadcast the concert live across the country.
Similartransmit, air, send
Oppositenarrowcast
Note
3
nouncountable
A show, news report, or other program sent out by radio or TV.
Like a TV show you can catch at a set time each week.
Her favorite broadcast airs every Sunday night.
That morning broadcast covered the local election results.
Similarprogram, show
Oppositenarrowcast
Note
4
adjective
Sent out to many people at once by radio, TV, or the internet.
Like a poster everyone in the city can see at the same moment.
The broadcast message reached every phone in the area.
Their broadcast warning helped people prepare for the flood.
5
adjectivebefore a noun
Having to do with sending radio, TV, or online programs to many people.
She studies broadcast journalism at college.
He works in the broadcast industry.
Note
6
verbintransitive
To take part in a radio or TV show as a host, speaker, or guest.
Like a teacher speaking to a class, but the class is the whole country.
She broadcasts from the studio every weekday morning.
They broadcast live from the stadium during the final.
Note
7
verbtransitive
To send a message out to a wide area so that many people get it.
Like spreading word so the whole neighborhood hears the same thing.
The town crier would broadcast the news to everyone in the square.
They broadcast the alert across the whole valley.
Similartransmit, announce, spread, publicize
8
adjective
Scattered or thrown out widely in all directions.
Like crumbs spread all over a table top.
The broadcast wreckage lay scattered over the hillside.
They gathered the broadcast papers blown across the lawn.
Similarscattered
Note
9
adverb
In a way that spreads out widely in every direction.
Like blowing dandelion seeds so they fly off in all directions.
The wind scattered the leaves broadcast over the yard.
She threw the flower petals broadcast across the path.
Similarwidely
Note
10
verbtransitive
To send one email to a large group of people at the same time.
Like dropping the same letter into everyone's mailbox at once.
Please don't broadcast that memo to the entire office.
Managers broadcast the policy update to all employees at once.
Similarsend, circulate, distribute

Less common meanings

11
verbarchaictransitive
To scatter seeds by hand over a wide piece of land.
Like tossing a handful of sand so it spreads out across the ground.
Farmers used to broadcast wheat across the open fields by hand.
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.
2013, Sarah Price, “Breathing new life into an old garden [print edition: New life, old garden]”Here, broadcasted means scattered the seeds over a wide area.
Note
12
nounarchaic
The scattering of seed by hand, or a crop grown from seed spread that way.
Like throwing grain to chickens, but across a whole field.
The broadcast of the seed took the whole morning.
Since my laſt, I went to ſee a piece of Daniel Fitch's, of Pluckley, Kent. He has two acres of broadcaſt, the oldeſt I have ever ſeen, ſown twenty years ago with barley, like clover.
1785, W. Belcher, “Observations on Lucerne”Here, broadcast means a crop grown from seed scattered by hand.
Note
13
adverbarchaic
In a way where seeds are scattered widely instead of planted in rows.
Like scattering crumbs all over instead of placing each one in a line.
The farmer sowed the clover broadcast across the meadow.
When [rape is] grown broadcast the superphosphate may be incorporated with the surface soil by the harrow when preparing the ground for the seed or in covering the same.
1893, Thomas Shaw, “Fertilizers for Rape”Here, broadcast means with the seed scattered widely, not planted in rows.
Note

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of broadcast apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

It comes from 'broad' plus 'cast'. It first appeared in the mid 1700s, meaning to spread seeds widely.