forum

[fawr-uhm]

noun

plural

forums, fora 

1. the marketplace or public square of an ancient Roman city, the center of judicial and business affairs and a place of assembly for the people.

2. a court or tribunal.

   the forum of public opinion.

3. an assembly, meeting place, television program, etc., for the discussion of questions of public interest.

4. Also called online forum,. Also called internet forum,. Also called web forum. message board.

5. the Forum, the forum in the ancient city of Rome.

forum

¹

/ ˈfɔːrəm /

noun

1. a meeting or assembly for the open discussion of subjects of public interest

2. a medium for open discussion, such as a magazine

3. a public meeting place for open discussion

4. a court; tribunal

5. (in South Africa) a pressure group of leaders or representatives, esp Black leaders or representatives

6. (in ancient Italy) an open space, usually rectangular in shape, serving as a city's marketplace and centre of public business

Forum

²

/ rəʊˈmɑːnəm /

noun

1. the main forum of ancient Rome, situated between the Capitoline and the Palatine Hills

Word History and Origins

Origin of forum¹

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Latin: “marketplace, public place,” akin to forīs, forās “outside,” foris door

Word History and Origins

Origin of forum¹

C15: from Latin: public place; related to Latin foris outside

Example Sentences

The G20 -- comprising 19 nations plus the European Union and the African Union -- was founded in the wake of the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis as a forum to boost global economic and financial stability.

Read more on Barron's

Other themes of this weekend's summit include securing climate change financing, increasing the participation of African countries in multilateral forums and ensuring that they get the best value out of their critical minerals.

Read more on BBC

The eel, hugely popular across Japan, is also endangered and will be discussed at a key global forum that regulates trade of threatened wildlife, starting in Uzbekistan on Monday.

Read more on Barron's

Su attended a black-tie dinner for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman alongside other executives at the White House Tuesday, and AMD sent a representative to a U.S.-Saudi Arabia investment forum Wednesday.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, who also attended Tuesday night’s dinner, said at the investment forum that his firm will start building AI data warehouses in Saudi Arabia, something it had never considered before.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• conference 
• convention 
• gathering 
• seminar 
• symposium 

When To Use

Plural word for forum

The plural form of forum can be either forums or fora. Forums is more widely used. The plurals of several other singular words that end in -um are formed in this way, including gum/gums, possum/possums, or geranium/geraniums. Irregular plurals that are formed like fora, such as curriculum/curricula and memorandum/memoranda, derive directly from their original pluralization in Latin. However, the standard English plural -s ending is often also acceptable for these terms, as in curriculums and memorandums.