Wide: rộng (khoảng·cách vật·lý từ đầu này đến đầu kia của một vật)
Broad: rộng mênh·mông (thường dùng trong thơ văn, với các từ field (cánh·đồng), valley (thung·lũng), river (sông),...)
Difference Between Broad and Wide
Posted on March 20, 2011 by Aron
Broad vs Wide
Broad and Wide are two words that seem to give the same meaning but strictly speaking they do not give the same meaning. The word ‘wide’ is expressive of physical distance from one side of an object to another side. Observe the two sentences:
1. The lion opened its mouth wide.
2. The bus is too wide to enter into the lane.
In both the sentences given above you can see that the word ‘wide’ is used expressive of physical distance from one side of something to another.
On the other hand the word ‘broad’ is used mainly in expressions such as ‘broad shouldered’, ‘broad faced’ and the like. The word ‘broad’ is more used in figurative expressions in poetry than the word ‘wide’. It is in fact used by the poets to describe fields, valleys, rivers and several spots of landscape.
It is interesting to note that the word ‘broad’ is often used in expressions that are abstract in nature. Observe the three sentences:
1. The robbery took place in broad day light.
2. He gave a broad hint to me.
3. The two parties entered into a broad agreement between them.
In all the sentences given above you would see that the word ‘broad’ is used in abstract expressions.
On the other hand the word ‘wide’ is also used in expressions such as ‘wide apart’, ‘wide awake’, ‘widespread’ and the like as in sentences:
1. The two screws stand wide apart.
2. He kept wide awake all through the night.
3. There was widespread rain in the city yesterday.
In all the sentences given above you may notice that the word ‘wide’ is nicely used in various expressions. The noun form of ‘broad’ is ‘breadth’ whereas the noun form of the word ‘wide’ is ‘width’.
I would tend to use 'broad' when the width of something is greater than its length, and/or is a lot greater than most other examples of the item one comes across.
So a wide street is a subjective thing, to some people it might seem ordinary - but a broad street is remarkably wide, and probably the widest street in the city.
Broad also applies where something has no apparent limits - the broad sky, the broad Atlantic.
Very interesting post Max. The only Broad Street I know is in Oxford and it is very strikingly wide. When you say that a wide street is a subjective thing, are you implying that a broad street isn't? Don't you think these adjectives of extent are usually employed in the way you describe? We'd say a long street if it was longer that most streets we were used to...and so on?
I was also interested in your examples, the Atlantic and the sky, for they hint at a difference I was struggling towards: broad is more often used in poetic, visionary contexts, than is the more down-to-earth and practical wide. Take a verse from a famous poem, Thomas the Rhymer:
"And see ye not that broad, broad road
That lies across the lily leven?
That is the path of wickedness,
Though some call it the road to heaven."
When the green witch says this to Thomas, she want to suggest the almost limitless extent of the road - the point you made - and how easy it is to go down that road.
And see ye not that wide, wide road would lack that sense of invitation and extent. It would also be less literary, less poetic, more down-to-earth.
My point was that people might disagree about 'wide' but they generally wouldn't about 'broad'.
You might think no street wide if it doesn't allow two lanes of traffic in either direction, I might think that anything wider than the narrow inner-city streets of Dublin is 'wide'.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét