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 letter invites them to a town hall meeting in March to ask questions. —Fousia Abdullahi, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 19 Feb. 2026

After feedback from residents at a town hall meeting last week, city staff are now proposing those maximum noise levels be 59 decibels during the day and 49 decibels at night. —R. Christian Smith, Chicago Tribune, 19 Feb. 2026

But when a University of Texas student asked him during a CNN town hall about the future of artificial intelligence replacing actors, there was nothing breezy about his response. —Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 19 Feb. 2026

The school hosts frequent town halls where students get to decide what actions constitute these cards. —Erick Trevino, AZCentral.com, 18 Feb. 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