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

Though the event was billed as a town hall, El-Sayed ended up not taking questions. — Sam Gringlas, NPR, 4 Sep. 2026

His statement came after the city of Newport, which is located in Massie’s district, ended its Flock camera pilot program July 14 following community concerns during a town hall days earlier. — Caroline Neal, Louisville Courier Journal, 3 Sep. 2026

Biweekly town halls are also useful for sharing AI success stories. — Ankur Pal, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2026

Hamilton has flayed his Republican opponent for not holding public town halls -- an argument that resonates with Ubel. — Gaby Vinick, ABC News, 31 Aug. 2026

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