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

That's because they are meant to offer spots for employees to either start a conversation or, in some instances, there are bench seats built in them to serve as seating for town halls or other meetings held on the stairs. —Jamie L. Lareau, USA Today, 25 Nov. 2025

Gathering at town halls or speaking about the pollution to reporters was tantamount to inviting the shutdown of your place of employment. —Sean Patrick Cooper, Rolling Stone, 24 Nov. 2025

Go to your town hall and get advice from the zoning department or building inspector. —Kaitlyn Keegan, Boston Herald, 22 Nov. 2025

Another town hall took place for the Ripon Consolidated Fire District on Thursday to inform the community about the challenges the district is facing. —Charlie Lapastora, CBS News, 21 Nov. 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