town hall

noun

1

: a public building used for town-government offices and meetings

2

: an event at which a public official or political candidate addresses an audience by answering questions posed by individual members

Town halls have lost some of their spontaneity. The 80 or so undecided voters chosen for Tuesday's event must submit their questions in advance and moderator Candy Crowley of CNN will decide which people to call on.

—Connie Cass

Examples of town hall in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Engaging communities through town hall meetings, public forums, and clear policies and procedures readily available for public consumption can educate and demystify how these systems work. —Dara Riordan, Forbes.com, 16 July 2025

Underwood said attendees should request in-person meetings with their congressional representatives and show up to town hall meetings and other public events. —Charlotte Observer, 14 July 2025

First, Republicans are not going to have a town hall meeting anytime soon and second, defunding Congress was not in the Big Beautiful Bill. —Gary Franks, Hartford Courant, 12 July 2025

Councilwoman Deborah Peoples held a town hall meeting last month for residents of Mosier Valley to discuss Mosier Valley Park and other community issues. —Kamal Morgan july 10, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for town hall

• aldol
• armhole
• atoll
• awol
• backhaul
• banal
• baseball
• befall
• cabal
• catchall
• cecal
• centrale

Kids Definition

town hall

noun

: a public building used for offices and meetings of town government