public domain

noun

1

: land owned directly by the government

2

: the realm embracing property rights that belong to the community at large, are unprotected by copyright or patent, and are subject to appropriation by anyone

Examples of public domain in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

By uploading documents to an AI platform, the documents end up in a public domain and are no longer confidential. —Wendy Hickey, Boston Herald, 5 Apr. 2026

Get a public domain song as a backup. —Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 20 Mar. 2026

The problem is that after a century of aggressive fire suppression on the part of the government agencies that mange America’s public domain, these landscapes are now primed for high-intensity fires against which the trees have no defense. —New York Times, 16 Mar. 2026

Copyrights never used to be a problem in figure skating because the International Skating Union barred any music involving vocals, and most classical music is considered public domain. —Dave Skretta, Chicago Tribune, 9 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1819, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for public domain

• cyclopropane
• isobutane
• legerdemain
• nitromethane
• ultramontane
• abstain
• airplane
• alkane
• arcane
• arraign
• attain
• backplane

Legal Definition

public domain

noun

public do·​main

-dō-ˈmān

1

: land owned directly by the government

2

: the realm or status of property rights that belong to the community at large, are unprotected by copyright or patent, and are subject to appropriation by anyone