plaza

noun

pla·​za ˈplä-zə How to pronounce plaza (audio) ˈpla- How to pronounce plaza (audio)
1
a
: a public square in a city or town
b
: an open area usually located near urban buildings and often featuring walkways, trees and shrubs, places to sit, and sometimes shops
2
: a place on a thoroughfare (such as a turnpike) at which all traffic must temporarily stop (as to pay tolls)
3
: an area adjacent to an expressway which has service facilities (such as a restaurant, gas station, and restrooms)
4

Examples of plaza in a Sentence

They put his statue in the town's plaza.
Recent Examples on the Web Golden Soup Wu and Chien sit down at a large round table in the dining room of Golden Soup, a banquet restaurant on the second floor of the Gold World plaza in San Gabriel. Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2024 The excavation at the plaza has finished, and the paving stones will be put back in place, officials wrote in a Facebook comment. Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 21 Feb. 2024 Additionally, a crowd gathered for a vigil Thursday evening at a plaza adjacent to Children’s Mercy hospital where several of the injured children are hospitalized. Alexandra Banner, CNN, 16 Feb. 2024 Normally, the area around the al-Aqsa plaza would be strung with lights and the narrow lanes would be crowded with families buying clothes for the month and food for the nightly iftar banquets. Sufian Taha, Washington Post, 9 Mar. 2024 Deer District could accommodate streetcar extension Bauman said the city maintained its right of way through the plaza for a potential expansion of The Hop streetcar. Tom Daykin, Journal Sentinel, 6 Mar. 2024 Agua Prieta’s sports park, open on all sides — a contrast to most recreation facilities in town, which are enclosed by concrete or stone walls — greets locals with a plaza fronting a sunken gym. Sam Lubell, New York Times, 1 Mar. 2024 Such is the case at the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi located just off the historic main plaza in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. Lauren Mowery, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024 Construction of the civic plaza of the downtown arts corridor, known as the Ramble, should finish later this year. Stacy Ryburn, arkansasonline.com, 6 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'plaza.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Spanish, from Latin platea broad street — more at place

First Known Use

1683, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of plaza was in 1683

Dictionary Entries Near plaza

Cite this Entry

“Plaza.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plaza. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

plaza

noun
pla·​za ˈplaz-ə How to pronounce plaza (audio) ˈpläz- How to pronounce plaza (audio)
: a public square in a city or town

More from Merriam-Webster on plaza

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