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

States should also invest significantly in creating public digital infrastructure, stronger academic research, and a better digital public square. —Marietje Schaake, Foreign Affairs, 26 Sep. 2024

At the Place de la Concorde, the largest public square in Paris, which is also hosting BMX freestyle, skateboarding, and 3x3 hoops. —Sean Gregory, TIME, 29 July 2024

These types of content moderation would protect, rather than censor, free speech in the modern public squares. —Filippo Menczer, The Conversation, 8 Oct. 2024

Ahead of the ceremony, Mexican police erected movable steel barriers around Mexico City's sprawling public square known as the Zócalo – the typical site of celebration and protest in the country. —Lauren Villagran, USA TODAY, 1 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1757, in the meaning defined at sense 1