agora
1 Americannoun
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agorae
plural
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a popular political assembly.
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the place where such an assembly met, originally a marketplace or public square.
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the Agora, the chief marketplace of Athens, center of the city's civic life.
noun
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agorot
plural
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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."
Vocabulary lists containing agora
Ancient Greece - Introductory
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Ancient Greece - Middle School and High School
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Chapter 7: The Ancient Greeks
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Every year Athenians would file into the agora and vote on whether to send a fellow citizen into exile for 10 years for some civic infraction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
The futuristic Grecian agora, which opened in 2022, was beyond anything they’d built before — similar to Red Rocks in Colorado or Forest Hills Stadium in New York.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 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
There are two portals, or gateways—one leading into the old agora, or market-place, the other leading from old Athens into the Athens of Hadrian.
From Rambles and Studies in Greece by J. P. Mahaffy
Markets provided for those that bought and sold, while for business of more important kinds accommodation could be secured by laying out new agorae or fora in the immediate vicinity of the old.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3 "Banks" to "Bassoon" by Various
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
