plaza

American  

[plah-zuh, plaz-uh] / ˈplɑ zə, ˈplæz ə /

noun

• plazas
  plural

1. a public square or open space in a city or town.

2. shopping plaza.

3. an area along an expressway where public facilities, as service stations and restrooms, are available.

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plaza British  

/ ˈplaθa, ˈplɑːzə /

noun

1. an open space or square, esp in Spain or a Spanish-speaking country

2. 1. a modern complex of shops, buildings, and parking areas

   2. ( capital when part of a name )

      Rockefeller Plaza

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• plazas
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of plaza

First recorded in 1675–85; from Spanish, from Latin platea “street,” from Greek plateîa “broad street”; see place

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Explanation

A plaza is an urban park or square, or another public space where people can walk, sit, and congregate. You might, for example, tell your friend to meet you in the plaza downtown with the big horse statue. There are plazas that are mainly open spaces for pedestrians, sometimes including statues, fountains, and benches, like Washington DC's Freedom Plaza or Union Square in New York. Other plazas are more commercial, offering room to stroll and sit but also stores and restaurants. In Spanish, plaza simply means "place," and the earliest plazas were built in Spanish colonies in South America and the East Indies.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plaza plazas

TikTok videos posted by Benson showed the youngster performing tricks outside a Hilton hotel plaza and in the middle of a residential street.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026

Visitors were directed to enter through the museum’s two enclosed security booths off the plaza.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Visitors without tickets, Fowler added, are still able to enter the plaza, as well as the museum’s cafe and gift shop, after passing through security, “pending capacity limits.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

A public plaza brings all kinds of people together, including those we don’t know and can’t entirely predict.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

On the plaza, Mr. Curtain sat in his favorite spot, gazing off toward the bridge, reading a newspaper with a look of satisfaction, occasionally making a note in his journal.

From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart

I won’t miss the stops for fast food and comfort breaks in windswept concourses of highway service plazas.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

The walkways will be interspersed with plazas, small parks and exercise stations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026

The local government announced on social media that the site was "full" and suggested fans go to other plazas.

From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026

Now, families and fitness buffs fill up well-lit public plazas at night.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026

Their material cultures were simpler, too—no writing, no stone plazas, no massive temples—though Plains groups did leave behind about fifty rings of rock that are reminiscent of Stonehenge.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

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Related Words

• park
• square

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