buffer zone

noun

: a neutral area separating conflicting forces

broadly : an area designed to separate

Examples of buffer zone in a Sentence

There must be a 500-foot buffer zone between the river and the new buildings.

Recent Examples on the Web

Note: The historical (2024) buffer zone represents the area ± 2 inches from the boundary of the strike zone. —Eno Sarris, New York Times, 2 May 2025

Within Syria, many Druze live in the south of the country, parts of which Israel declared a buffer zone after Assad’s fall. —Eyad Kourdi, CNN Money, 30 Apr. 2025

Cannone approved a request from prosecutors that a buffer zone be reinstated for the second murder trial with an expansion that includes where supporters often gathered for the first go-around last year. —Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald, 12 Apr. 2025

Israel says the buffer zone is needed for its security, while Palestinians view it as a land grab that further shrinks the narrow coastal territory, home to around 2 million people. —Isaac Sharf, Chicago Tribune, 2 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1908, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for buffer zone

• acetone
• anglophone
• baritone
• bourguignon
• buspirone
• chaperon
• chaperone
• cobblestone
• collarbone
• cornerstone
• cortisone
• dictaphone

Legal Definition

buffer zone

noun

: an area designed to separate: as

a

: an area with certain boundaries beyond which protestors may not pass

b

: an area separating land used for different purposes

a buffer zone between the development and the park