Palo Alto

American  

[pal-oh al-toh, pah-loh ahl-toh] / ˈpæl oʊ ˈæl toʊ, ˈpɑ loʊ ˈɑl toʊ /

noun

1. a city in W California, SE of San Francisco.

2. a battlefield in S Texas, near Brownsville: first battle of Mexican War fought here in 1846.

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Palo Alto British  

noun

1. a city in W California, southeast of San Francisco: founded in 1891 as the seat of Stanford University. Pop: 57 233 (2003 est)

2. a battlefield in E Mexico, northwest of Monterrey, where the first battle (1846) of the Mexican War took place, in which the Mexicans under General Mariano Arista were defeated by the Americans under General Zachary Taylor

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Example Sentences

The Palo Alto company wants to reinvent the battery-driven bicycle using a powerful generator and software to change the look, feel and capabilities of two-wheelers.

From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026

Snap is cutting 247 workers at its Santa Monica headquarters and 73 at its Palo Alto office, according to filings last week with the California Employment Development Department.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2026

Some companies, such as Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike, have partnered with Anthropic on the company’s Project Glasswing cybersecurity initiative.

From Barron's • Apr. 23, 2026

Zuk founded Palo Alto two decades ago and served as the company’s chief technology officer until he retired last year and left its board.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

“I remember driving up from Palo Alto to San Francisco with L. W. Alvarez and Dr. Vannevar Bush when we discussed Oppenheimer’s activities in the nuclear weapons program,” he stated.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik