Broadcast

/ˈbɹɔːdkɑːst/ adj, adv, noun, verb

adj, adv, noun, verb ·Very common ·Middle school level

Meaning at a glance

  • Primary sense: A transmission of a radio or television programme intended to be received by anyone with a receiver.
  • Grammar: broadcast is listed as adj, adv, noun, verb.
  • Nearest alternatives: program, accessible, advertise, advertised.
  • Useful contrasts: live, private opinion, conceal.
  • Usage evidence: The radio broadcast the news in detail.

How to use "broadcast"

  1. Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
  2. Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "broadcast" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
  3. Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.

Meaning check

  • Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
  • Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
  • Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
  • Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?

Source and review context

This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "broadcast" in a final draft.

If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.

Before you rely on this definition

Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "broadcast" as the right word for your sentence.

If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "broadcast" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.

Compare nearby meanings

  • Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
  • Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
  • Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
  • Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.

Definition decision workflow

1. Identify the role

Check whether "broadcast" is acting as adj, adv, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.

2. Test the nearest option

Compare it with "program" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.

3. Confirm with context

Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.

Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.

Final meaning check

Before publishing a sentence with "broadcast", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.

When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A transmission of a radio or television programme intended to be received by anyone with a receiver.

    "No one knows how long it will be until a broadcast from a studio in New York will be viewed in India as well as in Indiana, will be seen in the Congo as it is seen in Chicago. But as surely as we are meeting here today, that day will come; and once again our world will shrink."

  2. 2
    message that is transmitted by radio or television wordnet
  3. 3
    A programme (bulletin, documentary, show, etc.) so transmitted.

    "The DJ was feeling nervous before his first national broadcast."

  4. 4
    a radio or television show wordnet
  5. 5
    The act of scattering seed; a crop grown from such seed. archaic

    "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."

Verb
  1. 1
    To transmit a message or signal through radio waves or electronic means. transitive

    "When the boys reached the business section of Bayport they found that Jackley's confession had already become known. The local radio station had broadcast it in the afternoon news program and people everywhere were discussing it."

  2. 2
    cause to become widely known wordnet
  3. 3
    To transmit a message over a wide area. transitive

    "The break with imperialism and the liberation of Russia from the predatory war, the publication of the secret treaties and the solemn abrogation of the policy of seizing foreign soil, the proclamation of national freedom and the recognition of the independence of Finland, the declaration of Russia as a "Federation of Soviet National Republics" and the militant battle-cry of a resolute struggle against imperialism broadcast all over the world by the Soviet government in millions of pamphlets, newspapers, and leaflets in the mother tongues of the peoples of the East and West—all this could not fail to have its effect on the enslaved East and the bleeding West."

  4. 4
    broadcast over the airwaves, as in radio or television wordnet
  5. 5
    To transmit a message over a wide area.; To send an email in a single transmission to a (typically large) number of people. specifically, transitive

    "Urban legend has it that someone is monitoring all those e-mails broadcast from your work address. Hard to imagine a more boring job but the truth is, and I shouldn't have to tell people this, the record of those e-mails is in a server somewhere and it can be monitored."

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    sow over a wide area, especially by hand wordnet
  2. 7
    To appear as a performer, presenter, or speaker in a broadcast programme. intransitive

    "She [Françoise Dolto] is most well known in France for her broadcasts on France-Inter, Lorsque l'enfant parait; she broadcasted for twelve minutes every day of the week for two years, answering parents' questions."

  3. 8
    To sow seeds over a wide area. archaic, transitive

    "I ſhall content myſelf, […] to ſay that the ſeed ſhoud be ſown in the garden, or very good ground, in rows, or broadcaſt, and as ſoon as the plants are of the ſize of a gooſe-quill, to be tranſplanted in rows of eighteen inches diſtance, and eighteen inches apart, one plant from the other: […]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Cast or scattered widely in all directions; cast abroad.

    "The seed was broadcast, not drilled."

  2. 2
    Communicated, signalled, or transmitted to many people, through radio waves or electronic means.

    "For radio-transmission it has been found that certain passages of a rhythmical nature come out more clearly if wooden-headed sticks are used. The Timpani sometimes tend to sound blurred and even to have a blurring effect on the rest of the orchestral ensemble in broadcast music, when ordinary soft sticks are used in a strongly marked rhythm."

  3. 3
    Relating to transmissions of messages or signals to many people through radio waves or electronic means. attributive

    "The new limitations would still prohibit foreigners from wholly or directly owning broadcast licensees, allowing only indirect ownership through a stake in a controlling parent of a broadcast licensee."

Adverb
  1. 1
    Widely in all directions; abroad.

    "[O]n reporting to Captain Thrasher he informed me that his orders were to take a detachment of forty men across the French Broad River and turn them loose to wander broadcast over the country as a protection to foraging parties of quartermasters and commissaries, […]"

  2. 2
    By having its seeds sown over a wide area. archaic

    "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."

Antonyms

liveprivate opinionconcealconcealment

Example

"The radio broadcast the news in detail."

Common questions

What does "broadcast" mean?

A transmission of a radio or television programme intended to be received by anyone with a receiver.

What is a synonym for "broadcast"?

Common synonyms include: program, accessible, advertise, advertised, advertisement, advertises.

How do you use "broadcast" in a sentence?

The radio broadcast the news in detail.

How do you pronounce "broadcast"?

Pronounced /ˈbɹɔːdkɑːst/.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-der.? Proto-Germanic *braidaz Proto-West Germanic *braid Old English brād Middle English brod English broad Proto-Germanic *kas- Proto-Germanic *kastōną Old Norse kastabor. Middle English casten English cast English broadcast From broad + cast. First attested in the mid 18th century, in the agricultural use of spreading seeds.

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