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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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.
Baron’s firm, based near the Plaza Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, manages $43.9 billion in mutual funds and ETFs, the firm says.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026
It notably restricts ICE at 26 Federal Plaza, where masked agents have routinely detained people attending immigration hearings, sometimes using heavy-handed tactics.
From Barron's • May 19, 2026
On Tuesday, rights groups and lawmakers accused ICE of violating the judge's decision by arresting a 21-year-old man in the halls of 26 Federal Plaza.
From Barron's • May 19, 2026
Clark, who was picking up food at the Mall at Bay Plaza when the teen takeover occurred, serves as the district attorney for the Bronx.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026
He rode through the Central Plaza and the large Auditorium where public meetings were held.
From "The Giver" by Lois Lowry
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.
