What does public mean?

Definitions for public
ˈpʌb lɪkpub·lic

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word public.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. populace, public, worldnoun

    people in general considered as a whole

    "he is a hero in the eyes of the public"

  2. publicadjective

    a body of people sharing some common interest

    "the reading public"

  3. publicadjective

    not private; open to or concerning the people as a whole

    "the public good"; "public libraries"; "public funds"; "public parks"; "a public scandal"; "public gardens"; "performers and members of royal families are public figures"

  4. publicadjective

    affecting the people or community as a whole

    "community leaders"; "community interests"; "the public welfare"

Wiktionary

  1. publicnoun

    The people in general, regardless of membership of any particular group.

    Members of the public may not proceed beyond this point.

  2. publicadjective

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

  3. publicadjective

    Pertaining to all the people as a whole (as opposed a private group); concerning the whole country, community etc.

  4. publicadjective

    Officially representing the community; carried out or funded by the state on behalf of the community.

  5. publicadjective

    Open to all members of a community; especially, provided by national or local authorities and supported by money from taxes.

  6. publicadjective

    Traded publicly via a stock market.

  7. Etymology: From publik, public, public, publique et al., and their source, publicus, alteration (probably after pubes) of populicus, from populus. Compare people.

Wikipedia

  1. Public

    In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science, psychology, marketing, and advertising. In public relations and communication science, it is one of the more ambiguous concepts in the field. Although it has definitions in the theory of the field that have been formulated from the early 20th century onwards, and suffered more recent years from being blurred, as a result of conflation of the idea of a public with the notions of audience, market segment, community, constituency, and stakeholder.https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cn_xdtIjrrQ/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

ChatGPT

  1. public

    Public generally refers to something that is accessible or available to the general population. It can refer to spaces or services that are maintained or funded by the government and are open to all members of the public without any discrimination. It can also refer to information, discussions, or activities that are meant for open participation or knowledge dissemination among the general public. Public can also describe something related to the community, society, or the people as a whole, rather than being limited to a specific individual or private entity.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Publicadjective

    of or pertaining to the people; belonging to the people; relating to, or affecting, a nation, state, or community; -- opposed to private; as, the public treasury

  2. Publicadjective

    open to the knowledge or view of all; general; common; notorious; as, public report; public scandal

  3. Publicadjective

    open to common or general use; as, a public road; a public house

  4. Publicnoun

    the general body of mankind, or of a nation, state, or community; the people, indefinitely; as, the American public; also, a particular body or aggregation of people; as, an author's public

  5. Publicnoun

    a public house; an inn

  6. Etymology: [L. publicus, poblicus, fr. populus people: cf. F. public. See People.]

Wikidata

  1. Public

    In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science, psychology, marketing, and advertising. In public relations and communication science, it is one of the more ambiguous concepts in the field. Although it has definitions in the theory of the field that have been formulated from the early 20th century onwards, it has suffered in more recent years from being blurred, as a result of conflation of the idea of a public with the notions of audience, market segment, community, constituency, and stakeholder. The name "public" originates with the Latin "populus" or "poplicus", and in general denotes some mass population in association with some matter of common interest. So in political science and history, a public is a population of individuals in association with civic affairs, or affairs of office or state. In social psychology, marketing, and public relations, a public has a more situational definition. John Dewey defined a public as a group of people who, in facing a similar problem, recognize it and organize themselves to address it. Dewey's definition of a public is thus situational: people organized about a situation. Built upon this situational definition of a public is the situational theory of publics by James E. Grunig, which talks of nonpublics, latent publics, aware publics, and active publics.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Public

    pub′lik, adj. of or belonging to the people: pertaining to a community or a nation: general: common to or shared in by all: generally known.—n. the people: the general body of mankind: the people, indefinitely: a public-house, tavern.—ns. Pub′lican, the keeper of an inn or public-house: (orig.) a farmer-general of the Roman taxes: a tax-collector; Publicā′tion, the act of publishing or making public: a proclamation: the act of printing and sending out for sale, as a book: that which is published as a book, &c.—ns.pl. Pub′lic-bills, -laws, &c., bills, laws, &c. which concern the interests of the whole people; Pub′lic-funds, money lent to government for which interest is paid of a stated amount at a stated time.—ns. Pub′lic-house, a house open to the public: one chiefly used for selling beer and other liquors: an inn or tavern; Pub′lic-institū′tion, an institution kept up by public funds for the public use, as an educational or charitable foundation; Pub′licist, one who writes on or is skilled in public law, or on current political topics; Public′ity, the state of being public or open to the knowledge of all: notoriety; Pub′lic-law (see International).—adv. Pub′licly.—adjs. Pub′lic-mind′ed, -spir′ited, having a spirit actuated by regard to the public interest: with a regard to the public interest.—ns. Pub′licness; Pub′lic-opin′ion, the view which the people of a district or county take of any question of public interest; Pub′lic-pol′icy, the main principles or spirit upon which the law of a country is constructed; Pub′lic-spir′it, a strong desire and effort to work on behalf of the public interest.—adv. Pub′lic-spir′itedly.—n. Pub′lic-spir′itedness.—n.pl. Pub′lic-works, permanent works or improvements made for public use or benefit.—Public health, the department in any government, municipality, &c. which superintends sanitation; Public holiday, a general holiday ordained by parliament; Public lands, lands belonging to government, esp. such as are open to sale, grant, &c.; Public orator, an officer of English universities who is the voice of the Senate upon all public occasions; Public school (see School).—In public, in open view. [Fr.,—L. publicuspopulus, the people.]

Editors Contribution

  1. public

    Accessible to people.

    Members of the public can choose to either have their online profiles public or private.


    Submitted by MaryC on February 24, 2020  


  2. public

    The population of a country.

    The public have a right to have a say in the running of their country - democracy is a form of power to the people i.e. the public.


    Submitted by MaryC on April 5, 2020  

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. PUBLIC

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Public is ranked #64200 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Public surname appeared 310 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Public.

    81.9% or 254 total occurrences were White.
    9% or 28 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    3.5% or 11 total occurrences were Asian.
    2.9% or 9 total occurrences were of two or more races.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'public' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #286

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'public' in Written Corpus Frequency: #806

  3. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'public' in Nouns Frequency: #470

  4. Adjectives Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'public' in Adjectives Frequency: #29

How to pronounce public?

How to say public in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of public in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of public in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of public in a Sentence

  1. Meglena Antonova:

    The ministry's actions are illegal, permissions to burn so much waste can only be allowed after public discussions and consultations.

  2. Alexander Navarro:

    Lots of elected officials as well as public health officers were telling people to wear masks as part of their civic duty, they were trying to tap into this idea that if you couldn't be over there fighting alongside our boys overseas, you could be doing your part here on the home front.

  3. Chyke Doubeni:

    I would say as a public health community, we're very good at repeating the same mistakes multiple times, it's the same story, the same underlying causes. There are barriers to care and information. Systems that require people to stand in line for hours for a vaccine do not work for people with hourly jobs, for instance.

  4. Kim Schmett:

    Our grandkids live in Florida, so we’ve had a chance to see and hear what he’s done down there, but everyone in Florida tells us, we don’t want him to run for president because we want to keep him here. That’s a good thing to hear about somebody holding public office.

  5. Chuck Rosenberg:

    Approximately 120 people die each day in the United States of a drug overdose, we will continue to target the criminal gangs that supply heroin, and we will work to educate folks about the dangers and to reduce demand. In this way, we hope to complement the crucial efforts of the CDC and our nation's public health agencies.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

public#1#162#10000

Translations for public

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"public." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/public>.

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