public
/ˈpʌb.lɪk/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.57 in modern English
Meaning
adj
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.
adj
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.
adj
Pertaining to the people as a whole, as opposed to a group of people; concerning the whole community or country.
adj
Officially representing the community; carried out or funded by the government or state on behalf of the community, rather than by a private organization.
adj
Pertaining to a person in the capacity in which they deal with other people on a formal or official basis, as opposed to a personal or private capacity; official, professional.
adj
Of an object: accessible to the program in general, not only to a class or subclass.
adj
Pertaining to nations collectively, or to nations regarded as civilized; international, supernational.
Archaic
Example Sentences
- "VVith ſcoffes and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts, / In open Market-place produc't they me, / To be a publique ſpectacle to all: / Here, ſayd they, is the Terror of the French, / The Scar-Crovv that affrights our Children ſo."
- "[T]he Apoſtles preached as vvell vvhen they vvrote as vvhen they ſpake the Goſpell of Chriſt, and our vſuall publique reading of the vvord of God for the peoples inſtruction is preaching."
- "Thy [Jesus's] firſt publique miracle graceth a marriage; It is an ancient and laudable inſtitution, that the rites of matrimony ſhould not vvant a ſolemne celebration; VVhen are feaſts in ſeaſon, if not at the recouery of our loſt ribbe?"
- "The Parliament alſo permitted General [George] Monck to ſend Mʳ [Thomas] Clarges his brother-in-law, accompanied vvith ſome Officers of the Army, to aſſure his Majeſty [Charles II of England] of the fidelity and obedience of the Army; vvhich had made publick and ſolemn proteſtations thereof, after the Letter and Declaration vvas communicated unto them by the General."
- "[O]ur last advices from Spain inform us, that the prince of Asturias had made his public entry into Madrid in great splendour."
- "Clear away! There was nothing they wouldn't have cleared away, or couldn't have cleared away, with old Fezziwig looking on. It was done in a minute. Every movable was packed off, as if it were dismissed from public life for evermore; the floor was swept and watered, the lamps were trimmed, fuel was heaped upon the fire; and the warehouse was as snug, and warm, and dry, and bright a ball-room, as you would desire to see upon a winter's night."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *pleh₁-, publik, public, pūblicus, *poplos, -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpʌb.lɪk/
- British English: /ˈpʌb.lɪk/
Usage
- Archaic
- British usage
- Obsolete
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Informal
- American usage
- Transitive verb