wide, thick, broad

wide, thick, broad  

Wide is used to talk about the distance across something such as a road or river. It is also used to talk about the distance from one side to the other of an object  

 .A doorway two metres wide 

Thick is usually used to talk about the distance between the two largest surfaces of an object  

The steel doors are four inches thick 

Broad can often be used instead of wide, but it is slightly literary • broad, graceful avenues 

Broad is always used with shoulders and back 

 A big man with broad (NOT wide) shoulders 

Wide is used with nouns such as range, variety, and choice to say that something includes a lot of different things 

Broad is used with nouns such as outline, picture, and description to say that a description is general rather than specific