town hall

noun

1

: a public building used for town-government offices and meetings

2

: an event at which a public official or political candidate addresses an audience by answering questions posed by individual members

Town halls have lost some of their spontaneity. The 80 or so undecided voters chosen for Tuesday's event must submit their questions in advance and moderator Candy Crowley of CNN will decide which people to call on.

—Connie Cass

Examples of town hall in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks at a town hall meeting at the DeYor Performing Arts Center on April 7 in Youngstown, Ohio. —Peter Aitken, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 May 2025

Under the watchful gaze of security guards, dozens of people streamed through metal detectors to enter Temple Israel one evening this month for a town hall meeting on hate crimes and domestic terrorism. —Hannah Allam, ProPublica, 31 May 2025

The Senate has promised modifications to the bill, a fact that Ernst pointed to repeatedly during her town hall. —Allison Pecorin, ABC News, 30 May 2025

Many of these workers simply don’t have the time to coordinate and attend town halls. —Christine Lightfoot, Baltimore Sun, 25 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for town hall

• aldol
• armhole
• atoll
• awol
• backhaul
• banal
• baseball
• befall
• cabal
• catchall
• cecal
• centrale

Kids Definition

town hall

noun

: a public building used for offices and meetings of town government