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

The authors stress the need for a robust public domain for information and for IP to be fairly applied alongside the public domain in order to encourage economic growth and innovation. —Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Apr. 2026

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

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