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

The plane did not climb higher than roughly 30 feet above ground level before crashing. —Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 26 Nov. 2025

The Tipsy Tundra at Ball Arena Denver’s hockey and basketball arena is getting in the spirit this year and transforming the Michelob Ultra Mountain House restaurant on its ground level into a holiday pop-up. —Tiney Ricciardi, Denver Post, 25 Nov. 2025

The airplane climbed little more than 30 feet above ground level, clearing a blast fence at the runway's end but scraping the roof of a nearby UPS warehouse with one of its landing gears. —Olivia Evans, Louisville Courier Journal, 21 Nov. 2025

Fog is essentially a cloud based near ground level. —Trey Fulbright, CBS News, 21 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1787, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for ground level

• daredevil
• sublevel
• bevel
• devil
• mediaeval
• multilevel