public knowledge

English

Noun

public knowledge (uncountable)

1. Knowledge that is available or accessible to the public.
   • 1936 June 19, “Testimony of Joseph A. Bennet”, in Investigation of Real Estate Bondholders' Reorganizations‎^[1], United States House of Representatives, page 38:

     Mr. BENNETT. It was public knowledge. I got this knowledge by reading a stock certificate that 1,700 stockholders had.
     Mr. GLADSTONE. And that is what you based that on, the fact that it was public knowledge, and not any direct relationship that you had?

   • 1974, James R. Kurth, “American Military Policy and Advanced Weapons”, in Lee Rainwater, editor, Social Policy and Public Policy, Transaction Publishers, →ISBN, page 341:

     By the time the existence and implications of MIRV became public knowledge, it had already been tested, the production of Minuteman III and Poseidon missiles had already commenced …

   • 2014 October 17, Goh Ban Lee, “Local government in urban Malaysia”, in Meredith L. Weiss, editor, Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Malaysia, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 99:

     As new development projects can change the character of neighbourhoods, the process of approving or rejecting a project should be public knowledge.

Further reading

• “public knowledge”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.