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public

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Able to be known or seen by everyone.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

puhblik

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpʌblɪk

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Able to be known or seen by everyone; happening without concealment; open to general view.

  2. Open to all members of a community, as opposed to only a segment of it; especially, provided by national or local authorities and supported by money from taxes.

  3. Pertaining to the people as a whole, as opposed to a group of people; concerning the whole community or country.

  4. Not private; open to or concerning the people as a whole

  5. business

    Of a company: having shares of stock traded publicly, for example, through a stock market.

  6. Officially representing the community; carried out or funded by the government or state on behalf of the community, rather than by a private organization.

noun

  1. countableoften public relations

    Often preceded by the and a qualifying word: a particular demographic or group of people, or segment of the population, sharing some common characteristic.

  2. countableuncountable

    Chiefly preceded by the: members of the community or the people in general, regardless of membership of any particular group.

  3. A body of people sharing some common interest

  4. countable

    Preceded by a possessive determiner such as my, your, or their: a group of people who support a particular person, especially a performer, a writer, etc.; an audience, a following.

  5. uncountable

    Chiefly in in public: the presence of spectators or people generally; the open.

  6. countableinformal

    Ellipsis of public house or (dated) public bar ("an inn, a pub: the more basic bar in a public house, as contrasted with the lounge bar or saloon bar which has more comfortable seats, personalized service, etc.").

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Able to be known or seen by everyone; happening without concealment; open to general view.

Used this way, public is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • open , a specialist term, precise but narrower

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use public

  • “Members of the public may not proceed beyond this point.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Open / pertaining

public opinionpublic policypublic servicepublic relations

Now

public sector

Other combinations

public healthpublic interestpublic school

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • publiclyadverbDerived adverb

    In a manner accessible to or observable by the public.

  • publicallyadverbDerived adverb

    In a manner accessible to or observable by the public.

  • publishverbDerived verb

    Put into print.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • public housingnounCompound term

    A housing development that is publicly funded and administered for low-income families.

  • public knowledgenounCompound term

    Knowledge that is available to anyone.

  • public lavatorynounCompound term

    A toilet that is available to the public.

  • public lawnounCompound term

    A law affecting the public at large.

  • public lecturenounCompound term

    A speech that is open to the public.

  • public librarynounCompound term

    A nonprofit library maintained for public use.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • publicizeverbRelated term

    Make public.

  • publicity mannounRelated term

    Someone employed to arrange publicity (for a firm or a public figure).

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: often preceded by the and a qualifying word

community

Antonyms

adjective

Sense: able to be known or seen by everyone

private

noun

Sense: often preceded by the and a qualifying word

privateArchaic

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.