If you are broadminded — often written broad-minded — you are willing to respect opinions or ways of living that are far from your own. You may not agree, but you do not shut people out or treat them as bad for being different. It is a compliment, a little old-fashioned and a little formal; younger speakers often say open-minded instead. It can describe a person, a family, a school, or a whole time in history. Though actually, people use it loosely: someone may call themselves broadminded and still only accept difference when it is easy or fashionable. It is not about body size, and it is not the same as broad in “broad humour,” which means jokes about sex or the body.