🚗 To hit the side 🗣️ Harsh criticism 💥 Simultaneous gunfire 🚢 Whole side of ship ⬅️ Sideways hit 📰 A large poster

broadside

1 7.5

The full side faces something or gets hit

adjective
/ˈbrɔːdˌsaɪd/

: lateral

The ship was hit broadside by the massive wave, toppling several crew members off balance.
hit broadside
turn broadside
stand broadside

Examples

We're gonna have to hit it broadside!

The Road to El Dorado (2000)
The boat and I, probably broadside on, would have been swept down into the boiling water below.

Ocean to Sky (2019)
It did settle down and move broadside before I shot.

Blog text (31)
Good God almighty Nate, turn us broadside into the wave.
Louise swerves just in time to keep from hitting it broadside.

Fiction book (1991)
He's coming around broadside.

Cleopatra (1963)
The tractor is smashed back at right angles to the tanker-trailer, which begins to slide broadside.

Fiction book (1991)
Marvosa sends the stolen car the same way, but in a frantic miscalculation, an oncoming car smashes into them broadside.

Fiction book (1995)
The car struck the wall broadside, causing significant damage to both the vehicle and the barrier.
She positioned the table broadside against the wall to maximize the space in the room.

Synonyms

sidewards

vsbroadside

1 4.6

In a direction that is toward one side rather than forward or backward

is directed to strike an entire side rather than just move toward one side

sideward

vsbroadside

4.2

To move toward one side

is aimed to hit the whole side rather than simply move toward one side

Surface Forms

broadside positive

Morphology

broadside = broad + side (transparent) = broad + side

Literal composition 'broad' + 'side' describing orientation or impact on a side; directly interpretable.

Etymology

Broadside used as an adjective or adverb comes from being hit on the broad ('wide') side of something, so to be struck 'broadside' means to be hit on the side.