How to use public in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun, verb

Public means able to be known or seen by everyone; happening without concealment; open to general view. Example: “Members of the public may not proceed beyond this point.”

Examples of public by meaning

adjectiveAble to be known or seen by everyone; happening without concealment; open to general view.

When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.2013 June 19, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are not merely out of control. They’re beyond control [print version: Our banks are out of...

adjectiveOpen to all members of a community, as opposed to only a segment of it; especially, provided by national or local...

public library public park
So I went into a public telephone-booth, rang up the Club, and told the porter that if Colonel Arbuthnot called, I was at 4 Palmyra Square, N.W.—I made him write down the address—and would be back before ten o'clock.1924 July, John Buchan, “The House in Gospel Oak”, in The Three Hostages, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 85
"The stairway there is a public stairway."1975 December 13, Gerrie Leary, quotee, “‘State House’ Couple Fail To Get License”, in Marion E[lizabeth] Tholander, editor, Gay Community...

adjectivePertaining to the people as a whole, as opposed to a group of people; concerning the whole community or country.

It seems safe to say public awareness of the Convention on Biological Awareness in Nagoya – and its goal of safeguarding wildlife – is close to non-existent.2010 September 16, Adam Vaughan, “Public awareness of the biodiversity crisis is virtually non-existent”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The...

adjectiveOfficially representing the community; carried out or funded by the government or state on behalf of the community...

public housing public officer public prosecutor public servant
The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page...
But culture's total budget is a tiny proportion of all public spending; it is one of the government's most visible success stories.2004 June 18, “Economic policy: For art's sake”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC...

adjectivePertaining to a person in the capacity in which they deal with other people on a formal or official basis, as opposed...

public face public image

nounChiefly preceded by the: members of the community or the people in general, regardless of membership of any particular...

Members of the public may not proceed beyond this point.
Two or three months more went by; the public were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this semi-exotic claimant to an English peerage, and sensations, surpassing those of the Tichborne case, were looked forward to with palpitating interest.1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Tremarn Case”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published...
The vehicles had roller bearings, electro-pneumatic control, automatic acceleration, and air doors, and were much welcomed by the public.1958 August, T. S. Lascelles, “Diamond Jubilee of the Waterloo & City Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 524

nounOften preceded by the and a qualifying word: a particular demographic or group of people, or segment of the population...

the cinema-going public
the reading public
Generally, you as a public relations writer have multiple publics starting with your employer and your employer's publics (of course).2005, Donald Treadwell, Jill B. Treadwell, “Theoretical Influences on Public Relations Writing”, in Public Relations Writing: Principles in...

nounAn internet publication.

Russian publics report that the fighters of the Wagner group have already practically taken possession of Soledar, there are fights on the outskirts, where the Vushniks are trying to fight back in the salt mines.2023 January 7, Alexander Grigoryev, “Russian public: PMC "Wagner" fighters report that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are using unidentified...

More sentences with public

State Wildlife Management areas often offer licensed hunters the opportunity to hunt on public lands.From the entry hunt
Residents used the public meeting to air their concerns about the poor state of the roads.From the entry air
The CEO made a public apology for the scandal, and promised full cooperation with the authorities.From the entry apology
They despise each other, but they are always civil in public.From the entry civil
He worked as a civilian journalist for ten years before being employed by the public broadcaster.From the entry civilian
The city council spends thousands of pounds removing graffiti from public buildings.From the entry graffiti
As the government, we have a duty to ensure public safety.From the entry we
The politicians were accused of keeping information hidden from the public.From the entry hide
The greatest factor in the decision was the need for public transportation.From the entry factor
The city council decided the matter should go to public vote.From the entry vote
Not wanting to be pressed for details, public relations gave a wishy-washy answer.From the entry wishy-washy
The company is offering a public beta program to test the software.From the entry beta
The game's developers released a demo version to the public 3 months before the full release.From the entry demo
As the heir to the British throne, the Prince of Wales is a very public figure.From the entry heir
A pint of beer in the saloon bar costs a penny more than in the public bar.From the entry saloon
Our town's public library has several copies of the Bible, in each of several editions.From the entry copy
As a community liaison, I work to make sure the general public knows about our organization's work.From the entry liaison
Many parents become embarrassed by their children throwing tantrums in public places.From the entry tantrum
The public won't understand this concept. We need to dumb down our explanation of it.From the entry dumb down
A protest will be staged in the public square on Monday.From the entry stage
The public took to the streets to protest over the planned change to the law.From the entry protest
There will be a public hearing to discuss the new traffic light.From the entry hearing
The names and email addresses of the users were redacted from the public data.From the entry redact
The disfiguration of the statue by vandals resulted in a public outcry.From the entry disfiguration

Meaning of public

adjective Able to be known or seen by everyone; happening without concealment; open to general view.
adjective 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.
adjective Of a company: having shares of stock traded publicly, for example, through a stock market.

Full definition of public

Questions about public in a sentence

How do you use public in a sentence?: Public is used as an adjective, noun and verb. For example: “Members of the public may not proceed beyond this point.”
What is a short sentence with public?: “the cinema-going public”
What does public mean?: Public means able to be known or seen by everyone; happening without concealment; open to general view.

Adapted from Wiktionary: public (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use public in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/public. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.