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

The comments echo those Ellison made yesterday at a town hall meeting of global staffers. — Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 8 Oct. 2026

On Thursday, members of left-wing parties held a minute of silence outside both the regional parliament and town hall of Madrid. — Joseph Wilson, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026

In addition to the survey, board trustees also hosted a series of town hall meetings last week to solicit public feedback on single-member districts. — Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 Oct. 2026

Elijah Nouvelage / Getty Images The endorsement comes two days after Bottoms, the Democratic nominee, faced Republican nominee Rick Jackson in a town hall-style debate hosted by Atlanta News First. — Christopher Harris, CBS News, 8 Oct. 2026

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