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 March 2020, Hemmer co-moderated a virtual town hall with Trump and members of the White House coronavirus task force to discuss the unfolding situation and latest developments on the pandemic. —Saman Shafiq, USA TODAY, 5 Nov. 2024

Politicians should be open to this kind of real town hall. —Marni Rose McFall, Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2024

In his town hall events and social media posts, Musk has also spread misleading claims casting doubt on the legitimacy of the election. —Max Zahn, ABC News, 4 Nov. 2024

Others on the campaign trail for Harris today include Laura Dern and Christy Turlington, who will be in Arizona, and Mark Cuban, who will be at a town hall in Atlanta. —Ted Johnson, Deadline, 31 Oct. 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