Definition of "semipublic" []

• Partially but not entirely open to the use of the public: prohibited smoking in public and semipublic places. (adjective)
• Partially but not totally owned by the public: a semipublic utility company. (adjective)
• Open to the knowledge and judgment of only a part of the public. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "(I use "semipublic" simply because given by a number and not in a private house) the favors are very simple, but at special cotillons or at those danced at private houses they are extremely elaborate and costly."
• "Either way: Ouch. the kind of semipublic laundry-airing that can turn aggrieved spouses into enraged ones and friends into embarrassed spectators."
• "And as the age of online-social-network users creeps up, it overlaps more with the age of divorce-lawyer users, resulting in the kind of semipublic laundry-airing that can turn aggrieved spouses into enraged ones and friends into embarrassed spectators."