From Middle English brood, brode, from Old English brād, from Proto-West Germanic *braid, from Proto-Germanic *braidaz, of uncertain origin.

• (RP) IPA: /bɹɔːd/
• (America) IPA: /bɹɔd/
  • (cot-caught, Canada) IPA: /bɹɑd/
• (Australia) IPA: /bɹoːd/

broad (comparative broader, superlative broadest)

1. Wide in extent or scope.

   three feet broad

   the broad expanse of ocean

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:

     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.

2. Extended, in the sense of diffused; open; clear; full.
   • 1720, William Bartlet, a sermon:

     broad and open day

   • May 12, 1860, Eliza Watson, Witches and witchcraft (in Once A Week, No. 46.)

     crushing the minds of its victims in the broad and open day

3. Having a large measure of any thing or quality; unlimited; unrestrained.
   • 1693, [John Locke], “§140”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC ↗:

     a broad mixture of falsehood

4. Comprehensive; liberal; enlarged.
   • 1819, D. Daggett, Sturges v. Crowninshield:

     The words in the Constitution are broad enough to include the case.

   • 1859, Edward Everett, Daniel Webster: An Oration On the Occasion of the Dedication of the Statue of Mr. Webster,:

     in a broad, statesmanlike, and masterly way

5. Plain; evident.

   a broad hint

6. General rather than specific.

   to be in broad agreement

7. (writing) Unsubtle; obvious.
8. Free; unrestrained; unconfined.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene iv]:

     as broad and general as the casing air

9. (dated) Gross; coarse; indelicate.

   a broad compliment; a broad joke; broad humour

10. (of an accent) Strongly regional.

    She still has a broad Scottish accent, despite moving to California 20 years ago.

11. (Gaelic languages) Velarized, i.e. not palatalized.

• (antonym(s) of “wide—regarding occupied space, width of an object”): thin, narrow
• (antonym(s) of “wide—regarding body width”): skinny
• (antonym(s) of “comprehensive”): all-encompassing; see also Thesaurus:comprehensive
• (antonym(s) of “not palatalized”): slender

• French: large
• German: breit
• Portuguese: largo
• Russian: в ширину

• French: fort

broad (plural broads)

1. (UK) A shallow lake, one of a number of bodies of water in eastern Norfolk and Suffolk.
2. A lathe tool for turning down the insides and bottoms of cylinders.
3. (UK, historical) A British gold coin worth 20 shillings, issued by the Commonwealth of England in 1656.
4. (film, television) A kind of floodlight.
   • 1974, The Video Handbook, page 71:

     […] fresnel spotlights, old-type broads, sky-pans, cone-lights, etc.

   • 1976, Herbert Zettl, Television Production Handbook, volume 10, page 105:

     Some broads have barn doors (see page 115) to block gross light spill into other set areas; others have even an adjustable beam, […]

   • 2015, Jim Owens, Television Production, page 194:

     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.

5. (slang, archaic) A playing card.
   • 1927, Arthur Morris Binstead, The works of A. M. Binstead, volume 2, page 118:

     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, […]

Early 20th century, from American English.

broad (plural broads)

1. (dated) A prostitute, a woman of loose morals.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:prostitute

   • 1925, John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC ↗, 1st section, page 94 ↗:

     “Now we go up Bowery Street look at broads. Me pay.”

2. (US, colloquial, slang, sometimes, dated) A woman or girl.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:woman, Thesaurus:girl

• French: gonzesse, meuf
• German: Weib, Braut
• Portuguese: gaja, gaja
• Russian: де́вка
• Spanish: pava (Spain), piba (Argentina), jermu (slang, backslang of mujer), gachí

1. Surname.