place.
An area; somewhere within an area.
Meaning & usage
An area; somewhere within an area. An open space, particularly a city square, market square, or courtyard.
An area; somewhere within an area. A street, sometimes but not always surrounding a public place, square, or plaza of the same name.
They live at Westminster Place.
An area; somewhere within an area. An inhabited area: a village, town, or city.
An area; somewhere within an area. Any area of the earth: a region.
He is going back to his native place on vacation.
An area; somewhere within an area. The area one occupies, particularly somewhere to sit.
We asked the restaurant to give us a table with three places.
An area; somewhere within an area. The area where one lives: one's home, formerly (chiefly) country estates and farms.
Do you want to come over to my place later?
An area; somewhere within an area. An area of the body, especially the skin.
Which place hurts the most?
An area; somewhere within an area. An area to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory.
An area; somewhere within an area. An area to fight: a battlefield or the contested ground in a battle.
A location or position in space.
I'll check places I think she might be.
Proper or usual position.
A place for everything, and everything in its place.
A particular location in a book or document, particularly the current location of a reader
I lost my place when you interrupted me.
A passage or extract from a book or document.
A topic.
A state of mind.
I'm in a strange place at the moment.
A chess position; a square of the chessboard.
A responsibility or position in an organization. A role or purpose; a station.
It is really not my place to say what is right and wrong in this case.
A responsibility or position in an organization. The position of a contestant in a competition.
We thought we would win but only ended up in fourth place.
A responsibility or position in an organization. The position of first, second, or third at the finish, especially the second position.
to win a bet on a horse for place
A responsibility or position in an organization. The position as a member of a sports team.
He lost his place in the national team.
A fortified position: a fortress, citadel, or walled town.
Numerically, the column counting a certain quantity.
three decimal places; the hundreds place
Ordinal relation; position in the order of proceeding.
That's what I said in the first place!
Reception; effect, implying the making room for.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English place, conflation of Old English plæċe (“place, an open space, street”) and Old French place (“place, an open space”), both from Latin platēa (“plaza, wide street”), from Ancient Greek πλατεῖα (plateîa), shortening of πλατεῖα ὁδός (plateîa hodós, “broad way”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“to spread”), extended form of *pleh₂- (“flat”). Displaced native Old English stōw, stede (partially), and -ern. Compare also English pleck (“plot of ground”), West Frisian plak (“place, spot, location”), Dutch plek (“place, spot, patch”). Doublet of piatza, piazza, platz, and plaza. In the etymological chain from Latin platēa, note Old French place, which has multiple descendants — including German Platz, itself with many descendants (e.g., Russian плац (plac)). Also note a more distant chain node Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús), whence English Plato and English plate (via Latin).
To put (someone or something) in a specific location.
He placed the glass on the table.
to place someone on a pedestal
To earn a given spot in a competition; to rank at a certain position ((often followed by an ordinal)).
The Cowboys placed third in the league.
Run Ragged was placed fourth in the race.
To earn a given spot in a competition; to rank at a certain position ((often followed by an ordinal)). To finish second, especially of horses or dogs.
In the third race: Aces Up won, paying eight dollars; Blarney Stone placed, paying three dollars; and Cinnamon showed, paying five dollars.
To remember where and when (an object or person) has been previously encountered.
I've seen him before, but I can't quite place where.
To vouch for someone's alibi.
The librarian was placed at home by her neighbor at the time of the murder.
To sing (a note) with the correct pitch.
To make.
to place a call
to place an order
To bet.
I placed ten dollars on the Lakers beating the Bulls.
To recruit or match an appropriate person for a job, or a home for an animal for adoption, etc.
They phoned hoping to place her in the management team.
To place-kick (a goal).
To assign (more or less value) to something.
My workplace places a high premium on team spirit.
She places little value on religion.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English placen, from the noun (see above).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.