public

CEFRA1

/ˈpʌblɪk/

adjective · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Open to or shared by all people.

  2. 02

    noun

    Ordinary people considered as a group.

Examples

  • Doing math is the only socially acceptable way to masturbate in public.

  • The campaign is designed to increase public awareness of the issues.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. 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.

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

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

More examples

In context

  • You will soon get used to speaking in public.

  • public housing public officer public prosecutor public servant

  • public face public image

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The city built a blank park for everyone to enjoy.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

The adjective and noun are derived from Late Middle English publik, publike (“(adjective) generally observable, public; relating to the general public or public affairs; (noun) a generally observable place or situation”), from Anglo-Norman public, publik, publique, Middle French public, publique, and Old French public (“(adjective) generally observable, public; relating to the general public; official; (noun) community or its members collectively; nation, state; audience, spectators collectively”) (modern French public, publique (obsolete)); and from their etymon Latin pūblicus (“of or belonging to the community, people, or state; general, public”), an alteration of poplicus (influenced by...