public square
noun
1
: an open public area in a city or town where people gather
St. Mark's Square in Venice is sinking at a time when this Italian city's popularity is rising. The world's most famous public square now floods an average of three out of every five days.—
Tom Crosby
Tom Crosby2
: the sphere of public opinion
In an August 2007 speech, then-New York governor Eliot Spitzer expounded upon Reinhold Niebuhr and the virtues of humility in the public square.—Lisa Miller
Lisa Miller… using legal action to cow an opponent into silence, and withdrawal from the public square.—Mark Steyn
Mark SteynExamples of public square in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Belanger was a World War II veteran who fought with ordinary distinction against a fascist German regime rampaging across Europe — one that launched its reign of terror with the 1933 burning of a homosexual’s library on a Berlin public square.
—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 24 June 2025
The blaze did not invoke the same gut-dropping panic of gunshots in a crowded public square.
—Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 3 June 2025
Mendler was fascinated with it—Twitter in particular—and its role as the new public square.
—ArsTechnica, 11 June 2025
Protestors gathered at a municipal headquarters and police station in Istanbul, and at universities and public squares across the country, leading to some scuffles with police officers who had erected barricades and closed off streets.
—CNN, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for public square
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Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 24 June 2025
The blaze did not invoke the same gut-dropping panic of gunshots in a crowded public square.
—Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 3 June 2025
Mendler was fascinated with it—Twitter in particular—and its role as the new public square.
—ArsTechnica, 11 June 2025
Protestors gathered at a municipal headquarters and police station in Istanbul, and at universities and public squares across the country, leading to some scuffles with police officers who had erected barricades and closed off streets.
—CNN, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for public square
Cite this Entry
“Public square.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/public%20square. Accessed 11 Jul. 2025.
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