What does broadcast mean?
Broadcast means to send information — most commonly a radio or television program, but also internet streams and even messages — simultaneously to a large, dispersed audience. As a noun, a broadcast is the program or signal so transmitted ('a live broadcast of the debate'); as a verb, it describes both the technical act of transmitting and, figuratively, the spreading of information far and wide ('she didn't want to broadcast her plans'). The word carries no particular formality or emotional charge, making it at home in both news reporting and everyday conversation. Its history is unexpectedly agricultural: broadcast originally described the age-old method of scattering seed by hand across a field rather than planting it in rows. When wireless radio emerged in the early twentieth century, the metaphor of sending something broadly in all directions proved irresistible, and the farming term became one of the defining words of modern mass media.
A radio or television program, or other transmission, sent simultaneously to a wide audience.
"Listeners can catch the interview in tonight's nine o'clock broadcast."
Often modified by adjectives such as 'live', 'national', or 'satellite'.
To transmit a program or message by radio, television, or the internet; more generally, to spread information widely.
"The network will broadcast the ceremony live from Westminster Abbey."
Past tense and past participle are traditionally 'broadcast'; 'broadcasted' is now widely accepted, particularly in American English.
Transmitted or made available by broadcasting, especially in real time.
"The broadcast version of the concert omitted two songs."
Standard plural for the noun referring to individual programs or transmissions; the sense of 'the activity of broadcasting' is uncountable and has no plural.
"All of the station's broadcasts are archived online."
Broadcast began life as a farming term — literally 'casting seed broadly' by hand across a field — before radio borrowed it in the 1920s and sowed it into everyday language.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of broadcast
Broadcast originated in eighteenth-century agriculture, combining the adjective 'broad' with the verb 'cast' to describe the practice of scattering seed widely by hand rather than sowing it in drills. The verb 'cast' itself comes from Old Norse 'kasta', meaning to throw. In the early twentieth century, radio engineers adopted the agricultural metaphor to describe transmitting signals indiscriminately in all directions, and by the 1920s 'broadcast' had become firmly attached to radio, later extending to television and internet streaming. It shares its Germanic root with related 'throw/cast' words such as 'outcast' and 'overcast'.
Related word forms
How broadcast is actually used
Neutral in register and used in both formal journalism and casual speech. The past tense is traditionally 'broadcast' (unchanged), though 'broadcasted' is increasingly common, especially in American English. The verb takes no preposition for the medium itself: say 'broadcast on Channel 4', not 'broadcast in Channel 4'.
Easily confused with broadcast
A podcast is a downloadable on-demand audio program, whereas a broadcast is transmitted simultaneously over radio, TV, or the internet to a live audience.