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 city will host an interactive town hall meeting from 4:30-7:30 p.m. April 11 at City Hall. Mike Jones, arkansasonline.com, 21 Mar. 2024 The district also hosted a town hall at the school and invited the Clay parents to present. Kristen Taketa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Mar. 2024 There will be panel discussions on the powers and pitfalls of artificial intelligence and AI’s relationship to creativity, wrapping up with a town hall with San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. Sal Pizarro, The Mercury News, 5 Mar. 2024 The meeting follows a town hall Wednesday night in which parents, residents and school staff demanded the city of Fort Worth kill the project. Harrison Mantas, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 Feb. 2024 Battle for the truth:In an era of lies, Jimmy Kimmel firing back at Aaron Rodgers marks a welcome shift How to watch CNN's town hall with Nikki Haley 7 p.m. Arizona time on Thursday, Jan. 18. Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 23 Feb. 2024 The appearance was part of a Senate town hall hosted by the Spanish-language network, featuring the three Democratic hopefuls in separate appearances. Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2024 Town hall meetings The Auraria Higher Education Center is holding town hall meetings to discuss the new campus master plan from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday, March 7, and noon to 1 p.m. Monday, March 11, in the Multicultural Lounge or via Zoom. Visit ahec.edu for details. Elizabeth Hernandez, The Denver Post, 6 Mar. 2024 Features for creating summaries and turning hours-long videos into five-minute highlight clips will take this even further, potentially eliminating the need for employees to join those lengthy town hall meetings altogether. Sage Lazzaro, Fortune, 29 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'town hall.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of town hall was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near town hall

Cite this Entry

“Town hall.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/town%20hall. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

town hall

noun
: a public building used for offices and meetings of town government
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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