public land

Definition of public land

: land owned by a government specifically : that part of the U.S. public domain subject to sale or disposal under the homestead laws

Examples of public land in a Sentence

the management of public lands The government will auction off 20 parcels of public land.

Recent Examples on the Web To everyone whose weekends seem empty without traipsing to the middle of nowhere, setting up camp and pouring hot water in a pouch of dehydrated pasta: Sleeping in a tent on public land is so 2010s. — Scott Craven, azcentral, "Arizona's coolest campsites: How to book an Airstream, a bubble tent or an alpaca farm," 10 Jan. 2020 The suit accuses police of extreme recklessness in their pursuit of 51-year-old Gregory Longenecker, who had been caught growing marijuana plants on public land near Reading. — Washington Post, "Suit: Pilot tried to warn before dozer killed pot suspect," 13 Dec. 2019 Grijalva said the findings underscore growing concerns over the safety of government workers on public land. — Matthew Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, "US public land workers getting assaulted, threatened on job," 21 Oct. 2019 Makeshift habitations are everywhere — set up under or near freeways, in ravines or canyons and creek beds, and on public land away from view. — Daniel Hernandez, New York Times, "Who Would Firebomb a Homeless Encampment?," 11 Oct. 2019 While accepting that slums and informal settlements have to be tackled, my research recommends a policy rethink that should involve enabling strategies which fully address the rights of people who are illegally settled on public land. — Ndubisi Onwuanyi, Quartz Africa, "The unplanned journey that led Lagos to becoming an overwhelmed megacity," 5 Oct. 2019 Nearly all of the remaining groves are preserved on public land within Yosemite National Park, Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park, Calaveras Big Trees State Park, and Sequoia National Forest. — Paul Rogers, The Mercury News, "World’s largest privately owned giant sequoia forest sold for $15 million," 17 Sep. 2019 Removal agents use a GPS tracking app to log their time spent hunting and tracking the creatures on public land. — Aj Willingham, CNN, "Florida is looking to hire 50 new citizen python hunters," 16 Sep. 2019 Many stargazers prefer to camp on the Pawnee, which is allowed within 300 feet of most Forest Service roads on public land. — Dan England, The Know, "Where to go stargazing in Colorado, from parks to small towns," 9 Sep. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'public land.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about public land

Dictionary Entries near public land

public knowledge

public liability insurance

Statistics for public land

Last Updated

17 Feb 2020

Cite this Entry

“Public land.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/public%20land. Accessed 22 Feb. 2020.

Keep scrolling for more

WORD OF THE DAY

pontificate

See Definitions and Examples »

Test Your Vocabulary

More Confusing Words—Quiz

The magician ______ moved the selected card to the top of the deck.

discreetly discretely

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.