placard
Americannoun
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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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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
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have been placardingperfect progressive
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has been placardingperfect progressive
Past
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placardedsimple
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had placardedperfect
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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:
“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
One woman held a placard saying "there's no time for fear" and a child brought pictures he had drawn of Magyar.
From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026
City of London Police said a 22-year-old woman was arrested for displaying a placard in support of a proscribed organisation, in this case Palestine Action, contrary to Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
From BBC ● Dec. 23, 2025
A white wooden cross was erected on the grave mound with a placard that read:
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
At a vigil last weekend, community members held placards in solidarity and wept.
From Barron's ● Jul. 5, 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
Protesters carrying placards with slogans like "no to racism" and "you cannot divide us" marched from near Marble Arch to Whitehall near the UK parliament for a planned rally.
From Barron's ● Mar. 28, 2026
The trials of hundreds of people accused of holding up the placards have been put on hold while the legal battle over whether the group should have been banned continues.
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026
He was responsible for the replacement of burnt-out light bulbs, and for the cleanliness of the church, and the care of the Bibles, and the hymn-books, and the placards on the walls.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
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
They had placarded the ruins with huge portraits of Stalin and with posters that proclaimed: "The destruction of the German nation is not among the aims of the United Nations."
From Time Magazine Archive
A Florida realtor followed Bryan's motor in another bungalow on wheels, placarded : "Ask us about Tampa ! Ask us ! Ask us!"
From Time Magazine Archive
The influence of these placarded, shuffling men spread through the arteries of commerce.
From Time Magazine Archive
Everywhere the walls of South London were placarded with manifestoes of the League of Defenders.
From The Invasion by Le Queux, William
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
No speaker mentioned Adlai Stevenson, and his picture was not among the big portraits of party leaders placarding the hall.
From Time Magazine Archive
I venture to think the conjurers unwise in irritating the spiritualists, who are a growing body, by placarding their entertainment as exposés, even though such announcements may "draw" the non-spiritual public.
From Mystic London: or, Phases of occult life in the metropolis by Davies, Charles Maurice
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 Lissagary, P.
As the administration of the Rue Pagevin threw obstacles into the way of placarding the decrees and proclamations, Debock advised the workmen bill-stickers to associate themselves.
From History of the Commune of 1871 by Lissagary, P.
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.
