mall

noun

ˈmȯl 

especially British and for sense 1 ˈmal

1

: an alley used for pall-mall

2

[The Mall, promenade in London, originally a pall-mall alley]

a

: a usually public area often set with shade trees and designed as a promenade or as a pedestrian walk

b

: a usually paved or grassy strip between two roadways

3

a

: an urban shopping area featuring a variety of shops surrounding a usually open-air concourse reserved for pedestrian traffic

b

: a usually large suburban building or group of buildings containing various shops with associated passageways

Synonyms of mall

• promenade
• boardwalk
• walkway

Examples of mall in a Sentence

They spent the afternoon shopping at the mall.

the pedestrian traffic through the grassy mall is heaviest during the summer lunch hours

Recent Examples on the Web

In the 1950’s, Macy’s, Sears and Penney began expanding with large, multi-level stores thanks to the mushrooming of suburban malls across the country. —Phil Wahba, Fortune, 7 Nov. 2025

The ecommerce giant is also expected to make its clothing lines available in five Galeries Lafayette malls, which like BHV is owned by the Société des Grands Magasins (SGM) group in the cities of Dijon, Grenoble, Reims, Angers, and Limoges, though the dates are not set. —Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 7 Nov. 2025

Real estate investment trust Simon has released enhanced plans for Sagefield, a 100-acre luxury mall coming to Thompson's Station in Williamson County next year. —Gabrielle Chenault, Nashville Tennessean, 6 Nov. 2025

For Starbucks patrons at an upscale mall in Beijing’s central business district – the same complex where the company first opened its doors in China in 1999 – the news doesn’t come as a complete surprise. —John Liu, CNN Money, 5 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

short for obsolete pall-mall mallet used in pall-mall

First Known Use

circa 1660, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing mall

• pall-mall
• shopping mall
• strip mall

Rhymes for mall

• ahl
• all
• aul
• bawl
• brawl
• call
• caul
• crawl
• dol
• doll
• drawl
• fall

Kids Definition

mall

noun

ˈmȯl 

1

: a shaded walk : promenade

2

: a usually paved or grassy strip between two roadways

3

a

: a group of stores and often restaurants arranged about an often covered way for pedestrians

b

: a usually large suburban building or group of buildings containing shops and often restaurants with connecting passageways

Etymology

a shortened form of pall-mall "a game similar to croquet formerly played in England," literally "ball-mallet"

Word Origin

In Italy in the 1500s a popular alley game similar to croquet was known as pallamaglio, from palla "ball," and maglio "mallet." The game (and word) was adopted by the French as pallemalle and in the 1600s by the English as pall-mall. The alley on which the game was played came to be known as a mall. One of the best known of these alleys, covered with sand and crushed shells, was located in London's St. James Park and was known as "The Mall." After the game lost favor, the Mall at St. James, as it continued to be called, was turned into a fashionable walkway with trees and flowers. Similar open-air places came to be called malls also. In the 20th century the word was applied to other public spaces, including the shopping complexes we now know as malls.