Meaning of no man's land | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The ground between trenches where a soldier from either side would be easily targeted.
2. The name of a settlement:
3. A hamlet in Morval parish and St Martin-by-Looe parish, east Cornwall, England (OS grid ref SX2756).
4. A space amidships used to keep blocks, ropes, etc.; a space on a ship belonging to no one in particular for which to care.
5. A hamlet in Chilcomb parish, Winchester district, Hampshire, England (OS grid ref SU5129).
6. The part of a prison, hospital complex, etc. where individuals are not normally allowed to enter.
7. A place where no one can or should be present.
   figuratively
8. The area between the backcourt and the space close to the net, from which it is difficult to return the ball.
9. An area of the field where a fielder cannot save a single, nor stop a boundary.
10. Territory that is often disputed, and that cannot be inhabited because of fear of conflict, especially:
    historical
11. Tracts of uninhabited territory close to the Iron Curtain.
    historical
12. The stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states, sometimes separated by great distance.
13. Land that is not claimed by any recognized sovereign state; a terra nullius.
14. The fibrous sheath of the flexor tendons of the hand, specifically in the zone from the distal palmar crease to the proximal interphalangeal joint.

Equivalents

Examples

“Near-synonym: kill zone”

“Today Qingshan district is a patchwork of tiny fields, polluted streams and roadside markets selling building materials. But the city government is in the process of transforming this no-man’s-land into a sparkling new suburb.”

“There’s a 137-square-mile chunk of Franklin County […] referred to as "no man’s land" because it isn’t protected by any of the county’s four fire districts.”

“Now, George, if you’re going to consider this question from the point of view of poetry, you’re off to No Man’s Land, where I won’t follow you.”

“At the last Polish station all train officials left, except the locomotive crew, and we slowly trundled over a strongly fortified no man's land for a few hundred yards until we drew in to the first station in Russia.”

CEFR level