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• hall
  hall

  noun

  a corridor or passageway in a building.
• Hall
  Hall

  noun

  Asaph 1829–1907, U.S. astronomer: discovered the satellites of Mars.

hall

¹ American  

[hawl] / hɔl /

noun

• halls
  plural

1. a corridor or passageway in a building.

2. the large entrance room of a house or building; vestibule; lobby.

3. a large room or building for public gatherings; auditorium.

   convention hall; concert hall.

4. a large building for residence, instruction, or other purposes, at a college or university.

5. a college at a university.

6. (in English colleges)

   1. a large room in which the members and students dine.

   2. dinner in such a room.

7. British. a mansion or large residence, especially one on a large estate.

8. British Informal. music hall.

9. the chief room in a medieval castle or similar structure, used for eating, sleeping, and entertaining.

10. the castle, house, or similar structure of a medieval chieftain or noble.

11. Southeastern U.S.: Older Use. the living room or family room of a house.

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Hall ² American  

[hawl] / hɔl /

noun

1. Asaph 1829–1907, U.S. astronomer: discovered the satellites of Mars.

2. Charles Francis, 1821–71, U.S. Arctic explorer.

3. Charles Martin, 1863–1914, U.S. chemist, metallurgist, and manufacturer.

4. Donald, 1928–2018, U.S. poet and editor.

5. Granville Stanley, 1846–1924, U.S. psychologist and educator.

6. James Norman, 1887–1951, U.S. novelist.

7. (Marguerite) Radclyffe 1880–1943, English writer.

8. Prince, 1748?–1807, U.S. clergyman and abolitionist, born in Barbados: may have fought at Bunker Hill.

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hall ¹ British  

/ hɔːl /

noun

1. a room serving as an entry area within a house or building

2. (sometimes capital) a building for public meetings

3. (often capital) the great house of an estate; manor

4. a large building or room used for assemblies, worship, concerts, dances, etc

5. a residential building, esp in a university; hall of residence

6. 1. a large room, esp for dining, in a college or university

   2. a meal eaten in this room

7. the large room of a house, castle, etc

8. a passage or corridor into which rooms open

9. informal (often plural) short for music hall

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Hall ² British  

/ hɔːl /

noun

1. Charles Martin. 1863–1914, US chemist: discovered the electrolytic process for producing aluminium

2. Sir John. 1824–1907, New Zealand statesman, born in England: prime minister of New Zealand (1879–82)

3. Sir Peter. born 1930, English stage director: director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (1960–73) and of the National Theatre (1973–88)

4. ( Margueritte ) Radclyffe . 1883–1943, British novelist and poet. Her frank treatment of a lesbian theme in the novel The Well of Loneliness (1928) led to an obscenity trial

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subhall
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• halls
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hall

before 900; Middle English; Old English heall; cognate with Old Norse hǫll, German Halle; akin to Old English helan to cover, hide, Latin cēlāre to hide ( see conceal)

Explanation

A hall is the space in a house or building that leads to individual rooms. Some homes are organized with several bedrooms leading off one long hall. Your house might have a front hall just inside the main door, or if you live in an apartment building, your door might be at the end of a hall on the fourth floor. Another kind of hall is a large room meant for holding events, like a village hall, exhibition hall, or lecture hall. College campuses often include many halls — these are commonly dormitory buildings, which include hall in their names.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hall Hall halls

The dining hall is a perfect example: The student’s economic background is invisible as everyone eats from the same options available in the food court.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Gehry’ added new architectural wonders to his hall for Wagner’s “Das Rheingold” and “Die Walküre,” the start of a “Ring” Cycle that Dudamel is lobbying to finish in L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

The wedding was only subsequently confirmed by a statement from Swift's spokeswoman and a message on the giant screens of the storied concert hall and sports venue.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

So instead the 34 will line up on the floor of the sports hall in alphabetical order to hear how many votes they received.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

I bumped into him in the hall once.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

Jessica Hall explained how other changes by health insurers might send hundreds of thousands of people scrambling for new Medicare Advantage coverage in 2027.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

The explosion, which happened at 09:45 BST on Sunday, destroyed the home in Cobb Hall Road in Newton Longville, a village near Milton Keynes.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

West Stow Country Park in Suffolk will be hosting a pre-booked eclipse event from 17:45, while Dash Astronomical Society has moved its planned event at fire-hit Dunwich Heath to nearby Darsham Village Hall.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

It had triumphantly opened Walt Disney Concert Hall four years earlier, and over the past 15 seasons Salonen had made it the most farseeing orchestra in the land — and beyond.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn was one of the largest in New York and one of the oldest in the nation.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Jacobs announced she was beginning the egg freezing process in 2021, at a time where she said few lawmakers were discussing the topic in the halls of Congress.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

As a single mother and service-industry worker, Hong carries relatable and valuable lived experience that is often missing from the halls of state and federal government.

From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026

These are questions at town halls, at events, as you call representatives.

From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026

Eighty years of students coming through the halls of Dorsey watched the small seedling sprout into a towering, beautiful beast.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026

Every class change, the babble of speculation in the halls gets a little bit louder, and the teachers look a little bit more desperate.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman

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