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
• legerdemain
• nitromethane
• ultramontane
• abstain
• airplane
• alkane
• arcane
• arraign
• attain
• backplane
• betaine

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