public

See also públic

English

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Alternative forms

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman publik, public, Middle French public, publique et al., and their source, Latin pūblicus (“pertaining to the people”), alteration (probably after pubes (“adult men”)) of populicus, from populus (“people”). Compare people.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈpʌblɪk/, X-SAMPA: /"pVblIk/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Hyphenation: pub‧lic

Adjective

public (comparative more public, superlative most public)

  1. Able to be seen or known by everyone; open to general view, happening without concealment. [from 14th c.]
    • 2011, Sandra Laville, The Guardian, 18 Apr 2011:
      Earlier this month Godwin had to make a public apology to the family of Daniel Morgan after the collapse of a £30m inquiry into his murder in 1987.
  2. Pertaining to all the people as a whole (as opposed a private group); concerning the whole country, community etc. [from 15th c.]
    • 2010, Adam Vaughan, The Guardian, 16 Sep 2010:
      A mere 3% of the more than 1,000 people interviewed said they actually knew what the conference was about. It seems safe to say public awareness of the Convention on Biological Awareness in Nagoya - and its goal of safeguarding wildlife - is close to non-existent.
    • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19: 
      In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […]  The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra-wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.
  3. Officially representing the community; carried out or funded by the state on behalf of the community. [from 15th c.]
    • 2004, The Guardian, Leader, 18 Jun 2004:
      But culture's total budget is a tiny proportion of all public spending; it is one of the government's most visible success stories.
  4. Open to all members of a community; especially, provided by national or local authorities and supported by money from taxes. [from 15th c.]
    • 2011, David Smith, The Guardian, 10 May 2011:
      Some are left for dead on rubbish tips, in refuge bags or at public toilets.
  5. (of a company) Traded publicly via a stock market.

Antonyms

Derived terms

Terms derived from public (adjective)

Related terms

Terms etymologically related to public

Translations

pertaining to people as a whole
provided (by the government) for the community
open to all members of a community
publicly traded
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Translations to be checked

Noun

public (plural publics)

  1. The people in general, regardless of membership of any particular group.
    Members of the public may not proceed beyond this point.
    • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, The Tremarn Case[1]:
      “Two or three months more went by ; the public were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this semi-exotic claimant to an English peerage, and sensations, surpassing those of the Tichbourne case, were looked forward to with palpitating interest. […]”
    • 2007 May 4, Martin Jacques, The Guardian
      Bush and Blair stand condemned by their own publics and face imminent political extinction.

Usage notes

  • Although generally considered uncountable, this noun does also have countable usage, as in the quotation above.

Derived terms

Translations

people in general
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Statistics

External links

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French

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin publicus.

Adjective

public m (feminine publique, masculine plural publics, feminine plural publiques)

  1. public

Etymology 2

Noun use of public (compare Latin publicum).

Noun

public m (plural publics)

  1. public (people in general)
  2. audience
    Il devait plaire à son public.
    He had to please his audience
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Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French public < Latin publicus.

Adjective

public

  1. public

Noun

public

  1. the public
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Last modified on 20 May 2013, at 20:06