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PlainSpell

broadcast

broad·castUK /ˈbɹɔːd(ˌ)kɑːst/adjective, adverb, noun, verb

broadcast is spelled B-R-O-A-D-C-A-S-T, 2 syllables: broad·cast. The wrong spelling people search most is bradcast: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 68 of all searches for the word. Broadcast is an adjective meaning “Cast or scattered widely in all directions; cast abroad”.

How many letters and syllables are in broadcast?

Letters9: B-R-O-A-D-C-A-S-T
Syllables2: broad·cast
In writing25 times per million words; the 3,683rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, bradcast, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them)

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How do you spell broadcast?

Broadcast is spelled B-R-O-A-D-C-A-S-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 68 of the searches for broadcast in either form.

broadcastthe right spelling1,330 searches a month
bradcasta missing o20 searches a month

Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is broadcast?

Broadcast appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,683rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce broadcast?

  • UK /ˈbɹɔːd(ˌ)kɑːst/
  • British /ˈbɹoːd(ˌ)kɑːst/
  • /ˈbɹɔːd(ˌ)kast/

Broadcast has 2 syllables, split broad·cast in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-broadcast.ogg, En-ca-broadcast.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of broadcast

  • more broadcast comparative
  • most broadcast superlative
  • broadcasts plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • broadcasting participle, present
  • broadcasted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does broadcast mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Cast or scattered widely in all directions; cast abroad.

    The seed was broadcast, not drilled.

  2. 2

    Communicated, signalled, or transmitted to many people, through radio waves or electronic means.

  3. 3

    Relating to transmissions of messages or signals to many people through radio waves or electronic means.

adverb

  1. 1

    Widely in all directions; abroad.

  2. 2

    archaicBy having its seeds sown over a wide area.

noun

  1. 1

    A transmission of a radio or television programme intended to be received by anyone with a receiver.

  2. 2

    A programme (bulletin, documentary, show, etc.) so transmitted.

    The DJ was feeling nervous before his first national broadcast.

  3. 3

    archaicThe act of scattering seed; a crop grown from such seed.

verb

  1. 1

    To transmit a message or signal through radio waves or electronic means.

  2. 2

    To transmit a message over a wide area.

  3. 3

    To send an email in a single transmission to a (typically large) number of people.

  4. 4

    To appear as a performer, presenter, or speaker in a broadcast programme.

  5. 5

    archaicTo sow seeds over a wide area.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate broadcast?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of broadcast: Broad..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Broadcast in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanweit verstreut (cast or scattered widely), ausgestrahlt, gesendet (communicated, signalled, or transmitted through…), Sendung, Übertragung, Ausstrahlung (transmission of a radio or television programme)
Portuguesetransmitido (communicated, signalled, or transmitted through…), emissão, retransmissão, difusão (transmission of a radio or television programme), transmissão (programme transmitted), semeadura (act of scattering seed)
Frenchémission (transmission of a radio or television programme), diffuser, radiodiffuser, retransmettre (to transmit a message or signal through radio…)
Spanishemisión, retransmisión, televisación (transmission of a radio or television programme), programa (programme transmitted), diseminar (act of scattering seed), transmitir (to transmit a message or signal through radio…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does broadcast come from?

From broad + cast. First attested in the mid 18th century, in the agricultural use of spreading seeds.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after broadcast