Mall: meaning, definitions and examples

Typically used in American English to describe a large indoor shopping area with many stores and often restaurants and entertainment options.

• Let's go to the mall and check out the new clothing store.
• The mall is always crowded on weekends.

General term for a place with various types of stores, can be used interchangeably with 'shopping mall', but often used to describe smaller or less centralized collections of stores.

• I stopped by the shopping center to pick up some groceries.
• The shopping center has a mix of retail stores and service providers.

Often refers to an open public space in a city, but in the context of shopping, it is used to describe an open-area shopping center, usually smaller than a mall.

• We visited the plaza downtown which had a beautiful fountain and several boutique shops.
• There's a new restaurant that opened in the plaza near my office.

Another American English term similar to 'mall', emphasizing the shopping aspect, often used to describe large indoor retail complexes.

• There's a new movie theater opening in the shopping mall.
• We spent all day browsing the shops at the shopping mall.