plaza

noun

pla·​za ˈplä-zə  ˈpla- 

1

a

: a public square in a city or town

b

: an open area usually located near urban buildings and often featuring walkways, trees and shrubs, places to sit, and sometimes shops

2

: a place on a thoroughfare (such as a turnpike) at which all traffic must temporarily stop (as to pay tolls)

3

: an area adjacent to an expressway which has service facilities (such as a restaurant, gas station, and restrooms)

4

: shopping center

Examples of plaza in a Sentence

They put his statue in the town's plaza.

Recent Examples on the Web

Its most striking element is a tall glassy lobby that will provide a grand entrance from the new plaza, but the rest of the building is driven by functional massing that’s been sheathed with a desultory screen of metal and glass. —Edward Keegan, Chicago Tribune, 26 Jan. 2025

Glass walls line the sidewalk; a landscaped plaza is lit from the cantilevered structure above; a grid of generous vertical windows is framed in handsome steel (or maybe that’s Disney-ish terra-cotta); a blond-wood open lobby leads to a reception desk unprotected by bulletproof glass. —Justin Davidson, Curbed, 24 Jan. 2025

The shirts should be in stock in gift shops on turnpike service plazas from Orlando to Broward by fall. —Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 23 Jan. 2025

Dancers in outfits as turquoise as the water performed in the plaza. —Naomi Tomky, Travel + Leisure, 15 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Spanish, from Latin platea broad street — more at place

First Known Use

1683, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing plaza

• toll plaza

Kids Definition

plaza

noun

pla·​za ˈplaz-ə  ˈpläz- 

: a public square in a city or town