broaden

[ˈbɹɔː.dn̩]

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

cot caught merger[ˈbɹɑ.dn̩]

broaden verb: to make broad or broader.

Verb

broaden (third-person singular simple present broadens, present participle broadening, simple past and past participle broadened)

(transitive) To make broad or broader.
- broaden one’s knowledge
- broaden the canal
Synonyms:

widen, extend
(intransitive) To become broad or broader.
- The roads gradually broadened as we drove into the countryside.
- Her knowledge broadened after spending a year in South America.
Synonyms:

widen

Proper noun capitalized: Broaden

Broaden (plural Broadens)

A surname from Old English.

broaden meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada

broaden in Tamil

அகலமாக்கு, விசாலமாக்கு

broaden in Bengali

প্রশস্ত করা

broaden in Malayalam

വിശാലമാക്കുക, വീതികൂട്ടുക

broaden in Kannada

ಅಗಲಿಸು, ಪೇರಿಸು

Examples of broaden in a sentence

Some students take a gap year after finishing high school to broaden their horizons.
Over time, society's ideas of masculinity has greatly broadened.
Once one is of age 16, one's horizons broaden; once one is of age 21 one's horizons are limitless.

All 40 example sentences with broaden

Synonyms of broaden

widen
extend

Forms of broaden

Verb
third-person singular present	broadens
present participle	broadening
past participle	broadened
past	broadened
Proper noun
plural	Broadens

Past tense of broaden: broadened

Origin of broaden

From broad + -en (verbal suffix).

Perhaps a topographic surname for someone who lived in a broad valley, from Old English brād (“broad”) + dene (“valley”). Alternatively, it could be a variant of the surname Braden.

Words formed from broaden

Questions about broaden

What does broaden mean?: Broaden means to make broad or broader.
What is broaden in Tamil?: Broaden in Tamil is அகலமாக்கு, விசாலமாக்கு. See Broaden meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is broaden?: Broaden can be a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce broaden?: Broaden is pronounced [ˈbɹɔː.dn̩] (UK).
What is the past tense of broaden?: The past tense of broaden is broadened.

Words near broaden in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: broaden (page history and authors); Broaden (page history and authors); broaden (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); broaden (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); broaden (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); broaden (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-broaden.wav.

Cite this entry: “broaden.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/broaden. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.