public square
noun
1
: an open public area in a city or town where people gather
St. Mark's Square in Venice is sinking at a time when this Italian city's popularity is rising. The world's most famous public square now floods an average of three out of every five days.—
Tom Crosby
Tom Crosby2
: the sphere of public opinion
In an August 2007 speech, then-New York governor Eliot Spitzer expounded upon Reinhold Niebuhr and the virtues of humility in the public square.—Lisa Miller
Lisa Miller… using legal action to cow an opponent into silence, and withdrawal from the public square.—Mark Steyn
Mark SteynExamples of public square in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Yet the increasingly normalized and casual use of the slur in the digital public square is so far removed from this framework of basic empathy, and from the euphemistic origins of the expression — a clinical term twisted for the purposes of disparagement — that the appeal to decency doesn’t apply.
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 7 Jan. 2025
And the brawl is taking place almost entirely on Musk’s X platform, the informal public square for Trump’s whole Make America Great Again movement.
—Josh Meyer, USA TODAY, 28 Dec. 2024
Given that nativities and the menorah were a staple of the holiday public square for the better part of a century, towns and cities are free to add them back to their holiday displays.
—Stephan Pechdimaldji, Newsweek, 13 Dec. 2024
With the Red Sea event now in its fourth year, the Saudis have aimed at a cultural transformation in this sprawling port city amid a dizzying construction boom in Jeddah, with its mix of modern office towers and thriving shopping malls sitting alongside mosques, historic markets and public squares.
—Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for public square 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 7 Jan. 2025
And the brawl is taking place almost entirely on Musk’s X platform, the informal public square for Trump’s whole Make America Great Again movement.
—Josh Meyer, USA TODAY, 28 Dec. 2024
Given that nativities and the menorah were a staple of the holiday public square for the better part of a century, towns and cities are free to add them back to their holiday displays.
—Stephan Pechdimaldji, Newsweek, 13 Dec. 2024
With the Red Sea event now in its fourth year, the Saudis have aimed at a cultural transformation in this sprawling port city amid a dizzying construction boom in Jeddah, with its mix of modern office towers and thriving shopping malls sitting alongside mosques, historic markets and public squares.
—Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for public square
Dictionary Entries Near public square
Cite this Entry
“Public square.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/public%20square. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share