public interest

noun

1. the welfare or well-being of the general public; commonwealth.

   health programs that directly affect the public interest.

2. appeal or relevance to the general populace.

   a news story of public interest.

Other Word Forms

• public-interest adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of public interest¹

First recorded in 1670–80

Example Sentences

"I know there is significant public interest in this case, and we will seek to provide timely updates on our progress where possible."

From BBC

Going undercover involves deception and intrusion as tools of public interest journalism, and to justify this there needs to be sufficient evidence of wrongdoing.

From BBC

Chilukuri Paramathama, who runs a pharmacy in Nalgonda city in the southern Indian state of Telangana, told the BBC that in 2014, he filed a public interest petition in the high court in Hyderabad after reading news reports about a three-year-old who had died in Noida city after she was administered a wrong injection for fever.

From BBC

There was judged to be a significant public interest in evidence-gathering of this nature.

From BBC

Specialist prosecutor Andrew Pritchard, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "I have decided that there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings."

From BBC

Related Words

• glare 
• prominence 
• public eye 
• spotlight