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

See Examples For:

Palo Alto

He grew up in the Bay Area and, after an early career stint reporting on the videogame industry, interned at his hometown paper, Palo Alto Weekly.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

“The four of us have been chatting about this a little bit and we got excited,” Dean said in an interview at his Palo Alto, Calif., home Tuesday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Levels of coronavirus in the wastewater in San José and Palo Alto are considered “high,” the Santa Clara County Public Health Department said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

The Times article interviews some of the residents of Channing House, an assisted-living facility in Palo Alto, California, many of whom are well aware of what’s going on, and they are not happy.

From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026

The two had been invited to participate in a small one-day meeting at the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel