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

In a company, that locker room speech might take the form of a town hall, a Slack message, or a video. — Dev Patnaik, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026

The change is targeted for May 31, 2027, a TSA employee in Tampa said they were told during a town hall Monday led by Adam Stahl, acting TSA deputy administrator. — Alexandra Skores, CNN Money, 20 July 2026

Carnegie Mellon University, a private research university in Pittsburgh with a large portion of international students, is planning a town hall for the fall semester to answer questions from the campus community about the change. — Janet W. Lee, NPR, 20 July 2026

During a raucous town hall in Boyle Heights last week, where residents booed the officials who spoke, Bass noted that Airbnb was providing short-term rental assistance for people who live close to the fire. — Los Angeles Times, 18 July 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