market place
- noun
- /ˈmɑrkɪt pleɪs/
:
mercado
- The weekly farmers' market held in the market place attracts many local shoppers.
Examples
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In Alexandria in the market-place, Cleopatra and himself in chairs of gold were publicly enthron"d.
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The city cast her people out upon her; and Antony, enthron'd I' the market-place, did sit alone, whistling to the air; which, but for vacancy, had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too, and left a gap in nature.
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They created a market place...
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Every Saturday, the town hosts a buzzing market place filled with fresh produce and handmade crafts.
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At the market place, vendors set up their stalls early to sell fruits and vegetables to eager customers.
Synonyms
707
1.0
A place where people buy and sell food and other items
238
4.1
A place with many shops or stalls where people buy and sell goods
30
1.8
An open area or building in a town where people buy and sell goods
17
3.4
A busy market with many small shops selling goods, often outdoors
6
8.9
An open-air market in an Arab town with many stalls selling food and goods
2
1.6
A market that takes place outdoors where stalls sell food and other goods
1
2.1
An open area in a town where people sell food and goods
An outdoor place where people sell food and crafts
How Busy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a place for commerce' is directly compositional from 'market' (commerce/trade) + 'place' (location), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer it denotes where buying and selling occur. The modern extension to digital platforms is a transparent metaphorical widening of 'place' rather than an unpredictable idiom, so the overall sense remains derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Market place comes from old town squares where sellers set up stalls and people gathered on market days. The picture of many stalls in one place helps explain why it means 'an open area where people buy and sell goods'.