abroad

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English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

First attested in mid 13th century. From Middle English abrood (“broadly widely scattered”), from a- (“on, in”) + brood (“broad”). Equivalent to a- +‎ broad.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adverb[edit]

abroad (not comparable)

  1. Beyond the bounds of a country; in foreign countries. [from 1350–1470][1]
    • 2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times‎[1]:
      A closer look at North Korean history reveals what Pyongyang’s leaders really want their near-farcical belligerence to achieve — a reminder to the world that North Korea exists, and an impression abroad that its leaders are irrational and unpredictable.
    • 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XIV, in The History of England from the Accession of James II‎[2], volume 3:
      Another prince, deposed by the Revolution, was living abroad.
  2. (dated) At large; widely; broadly; over a wide space. [from 1150–1350][1]
    A tree spreads its branches abroad.
    • 1718, Matthew Prior, Solomon, and other Poems on several Occasions:
      Again: The lonely fox roams far abroad, / On ſecret rapine bend and midnight fraud; […]
  4. (dated) Without a certain confine; outside the house; away from one's abode. [from 1150–1350)][1]
    • p. 1650, John Evelyn, edited by William Bray, Diary‎[3], Frederic Warne and Company, published 1818, entry for 1650 July 7, page 207:
      I went to St. James', where another was preaching in the court abroad.
    • 1891, Rudyard Kipling, The Return of Imray:
      She spoke to Strickland in a language of her own, and whenever in her walks abroad she saw things calculated to destroy the peace of Her Majesty the Queen Empress, she returned to her master and gave him information.
    • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter 1, in The House Behind the Cedars:
      Was it so irreconcilable, Warwick wondered, as still to peal out the curfew bell, which at nine o'clock at night had clamorously warned all negroes, slave or free, that it was unlawful for them to be abroad after that hour, under penalty of imprisonment or whipping?
    • 1953, Ian Fleming, chapter 6, in Casino Royale, page 34:
      There were very few people abroad and the two men standing quietly under a tree on the opposite side of the boulevard looked out of place.
  5. (dated) Before the public at large; throughout society or the world; here and there; moving without restriction. [from late 15th c.][1]
    • 1654, Richard Whitlock, Zootomia; Or, Observations on the Present Manners of the English:
      This Peece, or Schisme of Suicisme, and Selfishnesse, hath spawned most of the Heresies and Schismes, that are abroad in the World.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 1:45:
      But he went out, and beganne to publish it much, and to blase abroad the matter: insomuch that Iesus could no more openly enter into the citie, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from euery quarter.
  6. Not on target; astray; in error; confused; dazed. [from early 19th c.][1]
  7. (sports) Played elsewhere than one's home grounds.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun[edit]

abroad

  1. (rare, Scotland) Countries or lands abroad. [First attested in the mid 19th century.][1][2]
    • 1929, King George V, widely (and variously) quoted:
      I hate abroad, abroad’s bloody.
    • c. 1991, New Statesman & Society, volumes 3–4, page 180:
      I am not, however, a xenophobe: obviously, abroad has some good ideas—arranged marriages, violent revolutions and so on.
    • 2001 March 13, The Earl of Onslow, speaking in the House of Lords, quoted in Hansard:
      That is not a xenophobic remark. I am a xenophiliac; I love abroad. I love foreigners. I just do not like the way that they are running the European agricultural policy.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Preposition[edit]

abroad

  1. Throughout, over.

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abroad”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 8.
  2. ^ “abroad, n.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
  • "Now abroad has entered English as a noun" - The New York Times, "ON LANGUAGE; The Near Abroad", William Safire, May 22, 1994, quoting Christian Caryl

Anagrams[edit]

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