agora

¹ American  

[ag-er-uh] / ˈæg ər ə /

noun

plural

agorae

1. a popular political assembly.

2. the place where such an assembly met, originally a marketplace or public square.

3. the Agora, the chief marketplace of Athens, center of the city's civic life.

---

agora ² American  

[ah-gawr-uh, -gohr-uh, ah-gaw-rah] / ɑˈgɔr ə, -ˈgoʊr ə, ɑ gɔˈrɑ /

Sephardic Hebrew agura

noun

plural

agorot

1. an aluminum coin and monetary unit of Israel, one 100th of a shekel: replaced the prutah as the fractional unit in 1960.

---

agora ¹ British  

/ ˈæɡərə /

noun

1. (often capital)

   1. the marketplace in Athens, used for popular meetings, or any similar place of assembly in ancient Greece

   2. the meeting itself

---

agora ² British  

/ ˌæɡəˈrɑː /

noun

1. an Israeli monetary unit worth one hundredth of a shekel

---

Etymology

Origin of agora¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; from Greek agorā́ “assembly (of the common people, not the nobility), marketplace,” derivative of ageírein “to gather together”

Origin of agora²

First recorded in 1960–65; from Hebrew ăgōrāh “coin, payment,” from āgār “to hire”

Explanation

In ancient Greek city-states, an agora was an important meeting place. The agora was used as a market, but it was also the primary location for gathering with friends, discussing politics, and observing religious ceremonies. The agora of ancient Athens is often credited as the birthplace of democracy, since it was where philosophers first debated and discussed those concepts. Like agoras in other parts of Greece, it was the center of Athenian life. It served as the city-state's main marketplace, courtroom, polling place, and location for business meetings. The Greek agora means "an assembly of the people," from a root meaning "to gather."

Example Sentences

Anyone who has spent any time in the digital agora will know the chilling feeling of seeing some supposedly secret thing about yourself suddenly reflected in a targeted advertisement.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026

It’s a lovely image: Kirk as a modern-day Socrates, wandering the agora of America’s universities seeking to find truth by means of rhetorical contest.

From Salon • Sep. 17, 2025

The report is the initial phase of an ambitious effort to map the modern agora, referring to the lively assembly places of ancient Greece often considered to be the birthplace of democracy.

From Science Daily • Nov. 13, 2023

The agora, or place of assembly in each city-state, thus became a marketplace to buy and sell goods.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

Pausanias 49 mentions such acroteria on the Stoa Basileios on the agora of Athens.

From The American Journal of Archaeology, 1893-1 by Various

Related Words

• arcade
• bazaar
• flea market
• mall
• plaza
• shopping mall