ground level

noun

plural ground levels

1

a

: the level of the ground taken as a reference point

From ground level, the arrayed fields of feed corn and soybeans look … like sprint tracks or Olympic pools, replete with the angles and alleys of serious tennis.

—David Foster Wallace

These survey flights were conducted at 300 feet above ground level. During the return flight to Schefferville, the aircraft descended and flew over terrain at an altitude varying between 100 and 40 feet above ground level.

—Targeted New Service

compare sea level

b

: the story (see story entry 3 sense 1a) of a building with its floor aligned to ground level : ground floor sense 1

It was a two-story house with white siding on the ground level …

—Neil Sheehan

2

: the state of a physical system (as of an atomic nucleus or an atom) having the least energy of all the possible states : ground state

Examples of ground level in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

At Fuerte Guaicaipuro, a military facility, investigators documented detainees being confined in pit-like cells dug below ground level and subjected to cold, food deprivation and other degrading treatment. — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 16 Sep. 2026

The largest even has a sky light, which for a ground level Manhattan building feels like a real luxury. — Madeline Fass, Vogue, 14 Sep. 2026

In the spring just before or just as new growth emerges, remove the mulch and cut the remaining dead stems down to ground level or a few inches above the soil line. — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 14 Sep. 2026

New growth sprouts at ground level when plants break dormancy in spring. — Barbara Gillette, The Spruce, 9 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1787, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for ground level

• daredevil
• sublevel
• bevel
• devil
• multilevel