Broadening

How to spell broadening

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce broadening

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does broadening mean?

1. nounThe act or process of making or becoming wider, larger, or more far-reaching.

Broadening in a sentence

• The broadening of the motorway reduced congestion at rush hour.

• She saw studying abroad as a way of broadening her cultural horizons.

Where does broadening come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows directly from the native English adjective 'broad', which traces back to the Old English 'brad', meaning 'wide' or 'spacious'. To that base was added the productive suffix '-en', which turns adjectives into verbs of becoming or making, exactly as it does in 'widen', 'deepen', and 'harden'; so 'broaden' literally means 'to make or become wide'. The further '-ing' ending then forms the present participle and the gerund, giving 'broadening', the act or process of making something wider or more far-reaching. The spelling preserves the 'oa' vowel cluster of 'broad', which is the main thing writers must remember, since the sound is a single long vowel rather than two. Both the literal sense (a road being made wider) and the figurative sense (broadening one's outlook) have travelled together in English since at least the early modern period.

How the word is built

• broad (wide)
• -en (verb-forming suffix: to make/become)
• -ing (present participle / gerund)