broadside
noun · adverb · verb
Simple meaning
A forceful attack, whether written or spoken.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
brawdsydSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɹɔdsaɪd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
by extension
A forceful attack, whether written or spoken.
A large sheet of paper, printed on one side and folded.
All of the armament that is fired from one side of a warship
The simultaneous firing of all the armament on one side of a warship
The printed lyrics of a folk song or ballad; a broadsheet.
The simultaneous firing of these guns.
adverb
Sideways; with the side turned to the direction of some object.
verb
Collide with the broad side of
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Rare
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A forceful attack, whether written or spoken.
Used this way, broadside is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use broadside
- “The ship was broadside to the dock.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.