public square

noun

1

: an open public area in a city or town where people gather

St. Mark's Square in Venice is sinking at a time when this Italian city's popularity is rising. The world's most famous public square now floods an average of three out of every five days.

—Tom Crosby

2

: the sphere of public opinion

In an August 2007 speech, then-New York governor Eliot Spitzer expounded upon Reinhold Niebuhr and the virtues of humility in the public square.

—Lisa Miller

… using legal action to cow an opponent into silence, and withdrawal from the public square.

—Mark Steyn

Examples of public square in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Woodcock Foundation is a funder of Headway’s public square. —New York Times, 1 May 2025

Some of the largest gatherings are expected in cities like Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Philadelphia, while smaller events are planned for college campuses and public squares nationwide. —Lee Habeeb, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Apr. 2025

Twitter, now called X, has become an unfiltered public square for discourse like this, and there are pros and cons to having such an open debate. —John Brandon, Forbes, 11 Mar. 2025

Back then, its location, not far from the Champ-de-Mars public square across from the National Palace and National Pantheon Museum, was seen as a plus. —Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 25 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1757, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for public square

• aftercare
• anywhere
• billionaire
• chinaware
• debonair
• dinnerware
• disrepair
• doctrinaire
• earthenware
• everywhere
• frigidaire
• kitchenware