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Nautical language is both fascinating and fun, what with its jibbooms and spirketing, its scuppers and poop decks. As these four terms demonstrate, not all ship-related words sail over to landlubber vocabulary, but broadside is one that has. It originally referred to the side of a ship above the water, then later to the guns arrayed along that side. The further use of broadside to refer to the firing of all those guns at once eventually led to the figurative “volley of abuse” sense—a strongly worded attack intended to shiver one’s timbers. The printing-related uses of broadside, referring originally to sheets of paper, and then to matter printed on such paper, arose independently.
Synonyms
Examples of broadside in a Sentence
Max Holleran, The New Republic, 25 Apr. 2023
While 33 states, including Colorado and California, filed a joint complaint in federal court, Massachusetts and other states filed individual complaints in local courts, part of a sprawling legal broadside against the tech giant.
—Naomi Nix, Washington Post, 9 Nov. 2023
The first candidate to attack Donald Trump this evening was Ron DeSantis, a broadside that came just 17 minutes into the debate.
—Annie Linskey, WSJ, 28 Sep. 2023
Gadsby set works by Picasso within a feminist critique that began with a blast of posters and broadsides produced by the Guerrilla Girls in the 1980s and 1990s.
—Jed Perl, The New York Review of Books, 12 Oct. 2023
Yet the deliberately provocative tone of Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s speech Tuesday – part of a comprehensive broadside on all immigration – risked obscuring the pertinence of one of her other core themes.
—Ned Temko, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Sep. 2023
As a broadside against fan culture, the series falls a little flat, but Fishback’s Dre is unforgettable: spectacularly awkward, believable, specific.
—Lili Loofbourow, Washington Post, 27 Sep. 2023
Pashinyan’s broadside was the latest in a series of moves signaling Armenia’s shift away from Moscow and toward Washington.
—Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2023
The group continued appealing to voters with the broadsides of the culture war.
—Emily Bazelon, New York Times, 12 Sep. 2023
Outdoor Life, 22 Nov. 2023
Reichert took the shot when the buck turned broadside and after a short wait, the hunter was gripping the antlers of a true giant.
—Scott Bestul, Field & Stream, 1 Nov. 2023
But this is far more than daydreaming about a giant buck turning broadside.
—Alex Robinson, Outdoor Life, 12 Oct. 2023
As the Honda turned left, it was struck broadside by the Mustang, police said.
—Clifford Ward, Chicago Tribune, 11 Sep. 2023
The ambulance was responding to a medical emergency when it was struck broadside by a civilian pickup truck at the corner of Van Nuys Boulevard and San Fernando Road around 12:35 a.m. Sunday, according to a news release from the LAFD.
—Jenny Gold, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2023
For elk, pick a really tough bullet and if possible, pick broadside shots.
—Joseph Von Benedikt, Field & Stream, 3 Aug. 2023
Rally's most valuable asset − and the one that has the most investors − is a broadside copy of the Declaration of Independence, which is owned by around 4,000 individual investors and is trading right now at around $6 million.
—Saman Shafiq, USA TODAY, 3 Aug. 2023
That means broadside and quartering away shots only.
—Alex Robinson, Outdoor Life, 26 Aug. 2022
Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, 8 Nov. 2023
Michael Filbert was working an overtime shift July 22, his first day back from injury leave after someone broadsided his cruiser five days earlier.
—oregonlive, 23 Aug. 2023
About 30 seconds later, the Volkswagen GTI broadsided the passenger side of a Nissan Altima headed east on Surfrider Way.
—Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 July 2023
Police said the collision occurred about 2:25 am when compact sedan westbound on Paradise Valley Road made a left turn toward Munda Road and was broadsided by an oncoming truck.
—Mike Freeman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 May 2023
Hawthorn was driving his family to Michigan when a truck broadsided the car, killing his wife and 4-year-old daughter and seriously injuring three older children.
—Ryan Gabrielson, ProPublica, 25 Feb. 2023
Then came the pandemic, followed fast by Mr. Xi’s broadside against the technology industry.
—Shen Lu and Karen Hao, WSJ, 26 Oct. 2022
Reports said a driver traveling westbound on Laurel Road failed to yield at a stop sign at the West 130th Street intersection and was struck broadside by a driver traveling northbound on West 130th.
—Brian Lisik, cleveland, 26 July 2022
Almost no one is expecting any extras, so what better time to broadside your customers with them?
—Christopher Elliott, Washington Post, 29 June 2022
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'broadside.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Broadside.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/broadside. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.
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Kids Definition
broadside
1 of 2 noun
broadside
2 of 2 adverb
More from Merriam-Webster on broadside
Nglish: Translation of broadside for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of broadside for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about broadside
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