plaza
Americannoun
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a public square or open space in a city or town.
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an area along an expressway where public facilities, as service stations and restrooms, are available.
noun
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an open space or square, esp in Spain or a Spanish-speaking country
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a modern complex of shops, buildings, and parking areas
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( capital when part of a name )
Rockefeller Plaza
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Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing plaza
Mexico - Introductory
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Mexico - Middle School
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Mexico - High School
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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.
Access to the fan fest in Zocala plaza was hampered by metal barriers erected in recent days to prevent protesting teachers reaching the area.
From Barron's • Jun. 11, 2026
On Nov. 1, Quiroz and the kids joined him in the plaza, which was filled with candles and thousands of people.
From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026
Silva, a housewife, rests on a bench in the plaza, a few meters from a military checkpoint.
From Barron's • May 18, 2026
One day, Manzo and a friend, Esteban Constantino Magaña, set up a table in Uruapan’s central plaza and asked townspeople about their problems.
From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026
On reaching the center of the plaza, Atahuallpa remained in his litter on high, while his troops continued to file in behind him.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
