BREADTH

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The extent of something from side to side

Synonyms:

breadth; width

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("breadth" is a kind of...):

dimension (the magnitude of something in a particular direction (especially length or width or height))

Attribute:

broad; wide (having great (or a certain) extent from one side to the other)

narrow (not wide)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "breadth"):

broadness; wideness (the property of being wide; having great width)

beam ((nautical) breadth amidships)

narrowness (the property of being narrow; having little width)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The capacity to understand a broad range of topics

Example:

a man distinguished by the largeness and scope of his views

Synonyms:

breadth; comprehensiveness; largeness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("breadth" is a kind of...):

intelligence (the ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "breadth"):

capaciousness; roominess (intellectual breadth)

Credits

Context examples:

Now don't forget to keep the bad breadth out of sight, Jo. Is my sash right?

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It was, as seen from this height, of an oval contour, with a breadth of about thirty miles and a width of twenty.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He is taller by almost the breadth of my nail, than any of his court; which alone is enough to strike an awe into the beholders.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I suppose he saw something in my face which checked him, for he suddenly stopped, and said with a sort of manly fervour that I could have loved him for if I had been free:—'Lucy, you are an honest-hearted girl, I know. I should not be here speaking to you as I am now if I did not believe you clean grit, right through to the very depths of your soul. Tell me, like one good fellow to another, is there any one else that you care for? And if there is I'll never trouble you a hair's breadth again, but will be, if you will let me, a very faithful friend.'

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The hair-breadth turns and twists we made, drew down upon us a variety of speeches from the people standing about, which were not always complimentary; but my aunt drove on with perfect indifference, and I dare say would have taken her own way with as much coolness through an enemy's country.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Would that I had some brighter ending to communicate to my readers, but these are the chronicles of fact, and I must follow to their dark crisis the strange chain of events which for some days made Riding Thorpe Manor a household word through the length and breadth of England.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They returned to the hall, that the chief staircase might be ascended, and the beauty of its wood, and ornaments of rich carving might be pointed out: having gained the top, they turned in an opposite direction from the gallery in which her room lay, and shortly entered one on the same plan, but superior in length and breadth.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Whatever happens at this full moon seems to support you in ways you can’t quite imagine ahead of time—but with Saturn and Mars so friendly to the full moon, you seem to be proving the wide breadth and scope of your abilities.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

So short was he that his wife, who was no very tall woman, had the better of him by the breadth of three fingers.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What boy was there through the length and breadth of Britain who did not long to be out with them under the red-cross flag?