Word.ws English Dictionary

third place

third place noun: a social space separate from the two usual social environments of home (“first place”) and the workplace (“second place”), such as a bar or public library.

Noun

third place (plural third places)

  1. (urban studies) A social space separate from the two usual social environments of home (“first place”) and the workplace (“second place”), such as a bar or public library.
    • The “third place” is a public, social place where you spend time that is neither home nor work. Whether it is publicly run, like a library, or a commercial venture, it is, above all, shared – a site of community-building and interaction with others.2018 September 4, Elle Hunt, “Tell us about your 'third place' – where you connect with your community”, in The Guardian
    • The rise of mobile and drive-through along with lives lived online raises questions about the role of coffee houses as a “third place” where people find community.2025 June 14, Gregory Meyer, “Starbucks hopes to achieve much needed caffeine boost by hiring more baristas”, in FT Weekend (Companies & Markets section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN...
    Synonyms:
    third space
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see third, place; especially, the third-best showing in a contest, such as a race.

Synonyms of third place

Forms of third place

pluralthird places

Origin of third place

Coined by American urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg in 1989.

Questions about third place

What does third place mean?
Third place means a social space separate from the two usual social environments of home (“first place”) and the workplace (“second place”), such as a bar or public library.
What part of speech is third place?
Third place is a noun.
What is the plural of third place?
The plural of third place is third places.

Words near third place in the dictionary

  1. third penny
  2. Third Period
  3. third person
  4. third person limited
  5. third persons
  6. third place
  7. third places
  8. Third Planet
  9. third position
  10. Third Positionism
  11. Third Positionist

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: third place (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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