Word.ws English Dictionary

broadening

/ˈbɹɔː.də.nɪŋ/US/ˈbɹɔ.də.nɪŋ/

broadening is the present participle and gerund of broaden.

Noun

broadening (plural broadenings)

  1. The act of becoming broader.
  2. The act of making (something) broader.
    • The broadening of the main street in this sleepy town is expected to cost a lot of money; it is said that the project will be financed with municipal bonds, but many citizens are skeptical of such debt.
    • The broadening of one's horizons is good for the soul.

Meaning of broaden

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To make broad or broader.
    • broaden one’s knowledge
    Synonyms:
    widen, extend
  2. (intransitive) To become broad or broader.
    • The roads gradually broadened as we drove into the countryside.
    Synonyms:
    widen

See all 3 meanings of broaden

Adjective

broadening (comparative more broadening, superlative most broadening)

  1. That gives someone broader education and experience; that broadens someone's horizons.
    • Travel is broadening. And exciting too, sometimes. In eleven European trips and two circumaviations during the past eleven years in quest of rare books, I have been lucky on two or three occasions. In Edinburgh in 1959 I came across a set of Blaeu's Atlas in eleven large volumes, printed in...1966, Coranto, volumes 4-6, page 24

Forms of broadening

Noun
pluralbroadenings
Adjective
comparativemore broadening
superlativemost broadening

Words formed from broadening

Phrases with broadening

Questions about broadening

What does broadening mean?
Broadening means the act of becoming broader.
What is broadening the present participle and gerund of?
Broadening is the present participle and gerund of broaden.
What part of speech is broadening?
Broadening can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce broadening?
Broadening is pronounced /ˈbɹɔː.də.nɪŋ/ (UK).
What is the plural of broadening?
The plural of broadening is broadenings.

Words near broadening in the dictionary

  1. broadened someone's horizons
  2. broadener
  3. broadeners
  4. broadenest
  5. broadeneth
  6. broadening
  7. broadening someone's horizons
  8. broadeningly
  9. broadenings
  10. broadens
  11. broadens someone's horizons

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: broadening (page history and authors); broaden (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.

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

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