public purpose
Community's common benefit
Public purpose describes goals or activities that benefit society as a whole rather than private interests.
Governments invoke public purpose to justify taxation, regulation, or taking private property through eminent domain: The land was seized for public purpose to build a highway.
The term appears in legal and policy contexts where collective benefit must outweigh individual rights.
What qualifies as public purpose expands over time—once limited to roads and utilities, it now may include economic development or urban renewal.
- civicPertaining to community affairs
- civic dutyObligation owed to community
- common goodBenefit shared by all
- general welfareCollective societal benefit
- welfareComfort and prosperity
community · community benefit · common interest · eminent domain · land use · collective · municipal · infrastructure · parks · commons · benefit · shared · social contract · government · taxation · tax dollars · social · utility
public purposeself-dealing
Misusing fiduciary position
rent-seeking · cronyism · graft · corruption · vested interest
public, purpose, pub, publish, publican, publication, publicly, publicity, publicize