Word.ws English Dictionary

publick

publick is the obsolete spelling of public.

Meaning of public

Adjective

public (comparative more public, superlative most public)

  1. Able to be known or seen by everyone; happening without concealment; open to general view.
    • VVith ſcoffes and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts, / In open Market-place produc't they me, / To be a publique ſpectacle to all: / Here, ſayd they, is the Terror of the French, / The Scar-Crovv that affrights our Children ſo.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  2. Open to all members of a community, as opposed to only a segment of it; especially, provided by national or local authorities and supported by money from taxes.
    • public library public park
    1. Of a company: having shares of stock traded publicly, for example, through a stock market.
  3. Pertaining to the people as a whole, as opposed to a group of people; concerning the whole community or country.
    • [S]tanding publick Records have been kept of theſe vvell atteſted Relations, and Epocha’s made of thoſe unvvonted events.1667, J[oseph] G[lanvill], Some Philosophical Considerations Touching the Being of Witches and Witchcraft. […], London: […] E[llen] C[otes] for James Collins […], →OCLC, page 5
  4. Officially representing the community; carried out or funded by the government or state on behalf of the community, rather than by a private organization.
    • public housing public officer public prosecutor public servant
  5. Pertaining to a person in the capacity in which they deal with other people on a formal or official basis, as opposed to a personal or private capacity; official, professional.
    • public face public image

See all 22 meanings of public

Forms of publick

Adjective
comparativemore publick
superlativemost publick
Noun
pluralpublicks

Words formed from publick

Questions about publick

What is publick the obsolete spelling of?
Publick is the obsolete spelling of public.

Words near publick in the dictionary

  1. publicized
  2. publicizer
  3. publicizers
  4. publicizes
  5. publicizing
  6. publick
  7. publickally
  8. publickation
  9. publickations
  10. publicke
  11. publickly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: publick (page history and authors); public (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “publick.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/publick. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.