placard
Americannoun
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placards
plural
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a paperboard sign or notice, as one posted in a public place or carried by a demonstrator or picketer.
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Armor. placate.
verb (used with object)
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placards,
present (3rd person singular)
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placarded,
past participle, past
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placarding
present participle
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to display placards on or in.
The square was placarded by peace marchers.
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to publicize, announce, or advertise by means of placards.
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to post as a placard.
noun
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a printed or written notice for public display; poster
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a small plaque or card
verb
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to post placards on or in
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to publicize or advertise by placards
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to display as a placard
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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placardsimple
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placardssimple
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have placardedperfect
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has placardedperfect
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am placardingprogressive
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are placardingprogressive
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is placardingprogressive
-
have been placardingperfect progressive
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has been placardingperfect progressive
Past
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placardedsimple
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had placardedperfect
-
was placardingprogressive
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were placardingprogressive
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had been placardingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of placard
Explanation
A placard is a sign, especially one that advertises something. You might get a summer job standing on the sidewalk, holding a placard that announces a mattress sale — though it may not be your dream job. A concert poster, a storefront notice, a protest sign carried in a rally — each of these is a type of placard. A placard can be as impermanent as a square of cardboard with a scrawled message, and as official as a permanent plaque marking a historic building. The Old French word plaquier is at the root of placard, and it means "to plaster or to lay flat."
Vocabulary lists containing placard
The Sun Is Also a Star
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Eats, Shoots & Leaves
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Johnny Tremain
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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:
Her pastries are displayed gallery-style on individual plates with placard descriptions, and customers can eat them in a serene ground-floor dining area or get them to-go.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
“We don’t forgive or forget,” one placard said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
"I'd love it if someone paid for a placard on one of the benches that said, 'Will you marry me?'," she laughs.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
But lately, more of the books rising to the top wear the placard noticeably looser.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
A small placard was propped beside the poster.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
The council’s signage was then replaced with placards urging residents to fight back against the parking plans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Just a short walk away, protesters marched under placards calling for his ousting as chants demanding an end to the resort project echoed off government buildings.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
Many held placards reading: "We are Europe" and portraits of jailed former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who pushed for close ties with the West while in office.
From Barron's ● May 26, 2026
Metal placards installed near each piece feature a scannable QR code that reveals more about the artist.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
Guides held up colored placards with different numbers and lectured in dozens of languages like they were playing some kind of international bingo.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
The Ben Crump Law website is placarded with numerous recent cable news appearances, many conducted from his Tallahassee home during quarantine.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 18, 2020
Manhattan's independent radio station WNEW, convinced that listeners want mostly music and news, has placarded buses and taxis with the promise that there are "no sob stories. . . no horror stories" on WNEW.
From Time Magazine Archive
Across the street from the church were two grievous eyesores: a Church of England edifice placarded with snappy ads for religion, and the Garden of Eden dance hall.
From Time Magazine Archive
On the stage was a chair placarded with Sir Arthur's name.
From Time Magazine Archive
The next morning Philadelphia was placarded with announcements that that evening Mr. Fox would sing, for the first time on any stage, a new patriotic song.
From Gentlemen Rovers by E. Alexander (Edward Alexander) Powell
No speaker mentioned Adlai Stevenson, and his picture was not among the big portraits of party leaders placarding the hall.
From Time Magazine Archive
The 'folly of the Cross,' the placarding of our human weakness, is something more intimate than the mere stripping off of outward paraphernalia.
From Time Magazine Archive
The company was sending men over Market Street, picking out the few individuals who owned vacant lots, leasing them for the month and preparing to justify the placarding and patrolling that already had been done.
From In the Heart of a Fool by William Allen White
It contented itself with placarding the manifesto, and neglected the smallest precautions, even that of occupying the railway station.
From History of the Commune of 1871 by P. Lissagary
"But there is no use in placarding her," said Halicarnassus.
From Gala-days by Gail Hamilton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
