plaza

/ˈplɑzə/

/ˈplɑzə/

Other forms: plazas

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.

Definitions of plaza

1. noun

   a public square with room for pedestrians
   “they met at Elm Plaza”

   synonyms: piazza, place

   type of:

   public square, square

   an open area at the meeting of two or more streets
2. noun

   mercantile establishment consisting of a carefully landscaped complex of shops representing leading merchandisers; usually includes restaurants and a convenient parking area; a modern version of the traditional marketplace
   “a good plaza should have a movie house”

   synonyms: center, mall, shopping center, shopping centre, shopping mall

   type of:

   mercantile establishment, outlet, retail store, sales outlet

   a place of business for retailing goods