forum

UK/ˈfɔːɹəm/US/ˈfɔɹəm/

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,878 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: forums, fora

A forum is a place or meeting where matters are openly discussed. A public forum, an online forum, a forum for debate.

The Roman one was the open square at the centre of a city where business and law were conducted. The plural is forums or fora, and forums is now the ordinary English one.

Definitions of forum

1nounforumA place or meeting where matters are openly discussed.B2+
“The town hall held a public forum where residents could discuss the new road.”

forum is a meeting.

Where it comes from

Latin forum means a public market place, from a root meaning an outside space.

Proto-Indo-European
*dʰwer-
Latin
forum — public market place, forum
English, today
forum

From Latin forum (“public market place, forum”). a doublet of fuero and door.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

forum in the wild

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion platform where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages.
Internet forum
The name comes from the forums of Ancient Rome.
Internet forum
In a legal context, a forum is a place or type of legal institution where a legal action such as a trial can take place.
Forum (legal)
In the constitutional law of the United States, a forum is also a property that is open to public expression and assembly.
Forum (legal)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the forum family

forensic forum

forum — used about once every 1,633 pages · #5,878 · point at the bar for the others

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