Word.ws English Dictionary

ground zero

Syllables: ground ze·roUK/ˌɡɹaʊnd ˈzɪəɹəʊ//ˌɡɹaʊnd ˈzɪɚ(ˌ)oʊ/

ground zero noun: originally, the point on the land or water surface below which a nuclear bomb detonates in the air; now also the point on such a surface at or above the detonation.

Noun

ground zero (countable and uncountable, plural ground zeroes)

  1. Originally, the point on the land or water surface below which a nuclear bomb detonates in the air; now also the point on such a surface at or above the detonation.
    • Some of the construction details (reinforcing rod splices, for example) [in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan] were often poor, and much of the concrete was definitely weak; thus some reinforced concrete buildings collapsed and suffered structural damage when within 2,000 feet of ground zero, and some...1946 June 19, U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, “The Effects of the Atomic Bombings”, in The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, [s.l.]: Chairman’s Office, →OCLC, archived from the...
    • It's Christmas at ground zero / The button has been pressed / The radio / Just let us know / That this is not a test1986, "Weird Al" Yankovic, “Christmas at Ground Zero”, in Polka Party!
  2. (broadly) The location of any disaster or violent assault.
    • "This is ground zero," she said. "If regulators don't adopt a zero tolerance for violations of standards then what we will have are places that are going to have unacceptable environmental damage."2011 April 21, Suzanne Goldenberg, quoting Jan Jarrett, “Pennsylvania: the ‘ground zero’ of the US shale gas drilling boom”, in The Guardian
    • Florida has been called a “ground zero” for climate change in America, as the state is expected to face the highest temperature rise in the southeast; […]2019 October 17, Matt Stieb, “Florida GOP Regrets ‘Lost’ Decade on Climate Change”, in New York Magazine
  3. (figuratively) The point at which something begins.
    • James Meredith's forced admission was a milestone in upending the old order in America's most segregated state, a kind of race relations ground zero.1997 May 4, Adam Nossiter, “Ground Zero”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    • Less than two years into the job, she has transformed Washington into ground zero of America’s education reform movement.2009 March 21, Nicholas Kristof, “Education’s Ground Zero”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Proper noun capitalized: Ground Zero

Ground Zero

  1. The site of the former World Trade Center towers in New York City destroyed on 11 September 2001.
    • As we approached Ground Zero, I felt like I was entering a nightmare. There was little light. Smoke hung in the air and mixed with suspended particles of debris, creating an eerie gray curtain. We sloshed through puddles left behind by the morning rain and the water used to fight the fires.2010, George W. Bush, Decision Points, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 148

ground zero meaning in Tamil

ground zero in Tamil

பேரிடர்நிகழிடம்

Forms of ground zero

pluralground zeroes
alternative formground-zero

Origin of ground zero

From ground + zero, first attested in a June 1946 a report by the United States Strategic Bombing Survey on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on August 6 and 9, 1945, during World War II. “Zero” was used as the code name for the location of the Trinity atomic bomb test – the first detonation of a nuclear weapon – in New Mexico, USA, on July 16, 1945.

From the general term ground zero.

Words that rhyme with ground zero

Questions about ground zero

What does ground zero mean?
Ground zero means originally, the point on the land or water surface below which a nuclear bomb detonates in the air; now also the point on such a surface at or above the detonation.
What is ground zero in Tamil?
Ground zero in Tamil is பேரிடர்நிகழிடம். See Ground zero meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is ground zero?
Ground zero can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce ground zero?
Ground zero is pronounced /ˌɡɹaʊnd ˈzɪəɹəʊ/ (UK).
What is the plural of ground zero?
The plural of ground zero is ground zeroes.

Words near ground zero in the dictionary

  1. ground wallahs
  2. ground water
  3. ground waters
  4. ground wire
  5. ground wires
  6. ground zero
  7. ground zeroes
  8. ground-bird
  9. ground-birds
  10. ground-breaking
  11. ground-chestnut

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ground zero (page history and authors); Ground Zero (page history and authors); ground zero (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-ground zero.wav.

Cite this entry: “ground zero.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ground_zero. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.