plaza

American  

[plah-zuh, plaz-uh] / ˈplɑ zə, ˈplæz ə /

noun

• plazas
  plural

1. a public square or open space in a city or town.

2. shopping plaza.

3. an area along an expressway where public facilities, as service stations and restrooms, are available.

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plaza British  

/ ˈplaθa, ˈplɑːzə /

noun

1. an open space or square, esp in Spain or a Spanish-speaking country

2. 1. a modern complex of shops, buildings, and parking areas

   2. ( capital when part of a name )

      Rockefeller Plaza

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• plazas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of plaza

First recorded in 1675–85; from Spanish, from Latin platea “street,” from Greek plateîa “broad street”; see place

Explanation

A plaza is an urban park or square, or another public space where people can walk, sit, and congregate. You might, for example, tell your friend to meet you in the plaza downtown with the big horse statue. There are plazas that are mainly open spaces for pedestrians, sometimes including statues, fountains, and benches, like Washington DC's Freedom Plaza or Union Square in New York. Other plazas are more commercial, offering room to stroll and sit but also stores and restaurants. In Spanish, plaza simply means "place," and the earliest plazas were built in Spanish colonies in South America and the East Indies.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plaza plazas

In Aberdeen, the building that used to house BHS - a department store shuttered in 2016 - is being converted into an entrance plaza for the new food and drink market.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

Actor D’Arcy Carden stopped by early, beating the cadre of guests crowding the main plaza beneath the now-famous oculus of the 300,000-square-foot Ma Yansong-designed building.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026

Konca has ties to a medical office at the same plaza, the records show.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026

From the vendor selling paletas in the plaza to guests at a five-star hotel, she is instantly recognized and surrounded by people seeking selfies and hugs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

And no one looked askance at him as he crossed the plaza.

From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart

Just a few miles away at LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries, visitors can enter the plazas beneath that building without first passing through security.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Kenji Kumagai, 37, said he experienced Mexican hospitality firsthand when he visited Guadalajara two weeks ago and was repeatedly stopped in plazas as locals welcomed him to their country.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026

The local government announced on social media that the site was "full" and suggested fans go to other plazas.

From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026

Now, families and fitness buffs fill up well-lit public plazas at night.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026

Mami’s mother had been one of fifteen children, and Mami had endless aunts, uncles, and cousins in the barrios that stretched like tentacles from the wide avenues and shady plazas.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

Related Words

• park
• square