place

/pleɪs/ noun

Definition

SOMEWHERE [C] › a position, building, town, area, etc: His leg's broken in two places. Is there a place where we can talk privately? Edinburgh would be a nice place to live. What a stupid place to park.

take place › to happen: The meeting will take place next week.

in place › in the correct position: The chairs are all in place. › If a rule, system, etc is in place, it has started to exist: There are now laws in place to prevent this from happening.

out of place › not in the correct position: Why are my files all out of place? › not right or suitable for a particular situation: Everyone else was wearing jeans and I felt completely out of place in my office clothes.

all over the place › in or to many different places: There was blood all over the place. I ran all over the place looking for them.

in place of sth › instead of something: Try adding fruit to your breakfast cereal in place of sugar.

HOME [C] informal › someone's home: Do you want to come over to my place tonight? They've just bought a place in Spain.

OPPORTUNITY [C] › an opportunity to take part in something: Are there any places left on the theatre trip? She's got a place at Liverpool University to do Spanish.

in first/second/third, etc place › If you are in first/second, etc place in a race or competition, that is your position: He finished in fifth place.

→ See also decimal place → See also have/take pride of place

(Definition of place noun from the Cambridge Learner's Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)