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public

/ˈpʌb.lɪk/
adjectivenoun

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

NWL Collins ENABLE

Adjective 4 meanings

  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.

    “public library public park”

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

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

    “public housing public officer public prosecutor public servant”

Noun 4 meanings

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

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

  2. 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.

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

    “the cinema-going public”

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

Definitions: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA) via Kaikki/Wiktextract

Where it comes from

Etymology

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 pūbēs (“adult men; male population”)), from poplus (“community; the people, public; nation, state”) (later populus; from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”); further origin uncertain, possibly from Etruscan or from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”)) + -icus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).

Similar and opposite words

Opposite
nonpublicprivateunpublic

PUBLIC at a glance

PUBLIC has 6 letters and scores 12 points in Scrabble (P 3 + U 1 + B 3 + L 1 + I 1 + C 3) and 17 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #228 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.

Rhymes with public

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