broad / brôd/ • adj. 1. having an ample distance from side to side; wide: a broad staircase. ∎  (after a measurement) giving the distance from side to side: the valley is three miles long and half a mile broad. ∎  large in area; spacious: a broad expanse of prairie.2. covering a large number and wide scope of subjects or areas: a broad range of experience. ∎  having or incorporating a wide range of meanings, applications, or kinds of things; loosely defined: three broad categories of mutual funds. ∎  including or coming from many people of many kinds: broad support for the president's foreign policy.3. general; without detail: a broad outline of NATO's position. ∎  (of a hint) clear and unambiguous; not subtle: a broad hint. ∎  somewhat coarse and indecent: what we regard as broad or even bawdy is a fact of nature to him.4. (of a regional accent) very noticeable and strong: his broad Bronx accent.• n. inf., chiefly derog. a woman.DERIVATIVES: broad·ness n.

BROAD.
1. An often dismissive term for a DIALECT, ACCENT, or USAGE considered coarse, rustic, uneducated, and difficult to understand: ‘I toke an olde boke, and the englysshe was so rude and brood that I could not wele vnderstande it’ ( Caxton, Eneydos, 1490); ‘Broad Yorkshire talked all over the ship’ (Blackwood's Magazine, 1859)
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2. In PHONETICS, a term referring to a TRANSCRIPTION in which only significantly different sounds are marked, as opposed to a narrow transcription. See PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION, SPEECH.

broad having a distance larger than usual from side to side; wide.
broad arrow a mark resembling a broad arrowhead, formerly used on British prison clothing and other government property.
Broad Church a tradition or group within the Anglican Church favouring a liberal interpretation of doctrine; the phrase came into vogue around 1848, and according to the Master of Balliol, Benjamin Jowett, was first proposed in his hearing by the poet Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–61). In general usage, Broad Church means a group, organization, or doctrine which allows for and caters to a wide range of opinions and people.
broad in the beam fat around the hips. Originally beam referred to the horizontal transverse timbers of a wooden ship, hence the greatest width of a ship, from which is derived the figurative use.
land of the broad acres a traditional name for Yorkshire.

broad In East Anglia, England, the name given to a freshwater lake, usually fringed by reeds, which is connected to a slow-flowing river near to its estuary. It is derived from medieval peat diggings which subsequently flooded.

Broad In East Anglia, England, the name given to a freshwater lake, usually fringed by reeds, that is connected to a slow-flowing river near to its estuary.