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

In May 2023, Trump both embraced election denialism and taunted CNN’s moderator, Kaitlan Collins, at a town hall event that outraged network staffers and contributed to the ouster of the network’s chief executive, Chris Licht. —Jeremy Barr, Washington Post, 27 June 2024

After Cianci’s first Kennedy town hall, Kennedy and Trump agreed to a similar format on X’s Spaces platform. —Makena Kelly, WIRED, 24 June 2024

The genre was made famous by Luiz Gonzaga, whose face adorns a giant mural on Recife’s towering town hall. —Marcia Desanctis, Travel + Leisure, 19 June 2024

The move-in schedule was to be announced Thursday morning during a global town hall for employees. —Lorraine Mirabella, Baltimore Sun, 13 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

town hall

noun

: a public building used for offices and meetings of town government