ground zero

noun

Updated on: 22 Apr 2018

Definition of ground zero

1 : the point directly above, below, or at which a nuclear explosion occurs

2 : the center or origin of rapid, intense, or violent activity or change; broadly : center 2a

the party town that served as ground zero for those corporate … bashes
—Rich Eisen

3 : the very beginning : square one

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Examples of ground zero in a Sentence

ground zero in the battle over immigration laws
a city that was once ground zero for the insurance industry

Recent Examples of ground zero from the Web

This is now possible, thanks to Luminar’s growing manufacturing footprint in Orlando, which is ground zero for the optics industry.

— andrew j. hawkins, The Verge, "LIDAR maker Luminar is scaling up and slashing costs in effort to dominate self-driving cars," 12 Apr. 2018
For example, the model suggests that right after the strike, emergency managers should expect to see some people rushing toward ground zero, jamming the roads in a frantic effort to pick up children from school or find missing spouses.

— m. mitchell waldrop, Science | AAAS, "What if a nuke goes off in Washington, D.C.? Simulations of artificial societies help planners cope with the unthinkable," 12 Apr. 2018
The Bay Area is ground zero for putting your music together, making a plan and taking it to the streets.

— aidin vaziri, San Francisco Chronicle, "Put ‘em under glass: Hip-hop gets the museum treatment in Oakland," 22 Mar. 2018
For the Saints this week, Room 162 is ground zero for investigatory draft work.

— jonathan jones, SI.com, "24 Hours ... At the NFL Scouting Combine," 8 Mar. 2018
The 10-word mantra could have been a snippet from any recent monologue by Sean Hannity, whose Fox News show was broadcast live Wednesday night just up the street inside the sprawling Gaylord hotel—CPAC ground zero.

— john hendrickson, Esquire, "CPAC's Carnival Barkers Have Arrived," 22 Feb. 2018
Push to cut rules along San Pedro River Cochise County has been ground zero in the debate over this year’s proposed groundwater legislation.

— dustin gardiner, azcentral, "Arizona aquifers are in trouble, but lawmakers want fewer rules for pumping groundwater," 4 Apr. 2018
But this is Wisconsin, ground zero for partisan polarization, so even this election is a cage match.

— ed kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Election Is Going To Be A Barnburner," 1 Apr. 2018
Yet in recent months, Dallas has become ground zero for a nascent national bike-share war, as five startups armed with hundreds of millions of venture capital dollars have blanketed the city with at least 18,000 bikes.

— eliot brown, WSJ, "Dockless Bike Share Floods into U.S. Cities, With Rides and Clutter," 26 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ground zero.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of ground zero

1946

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

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ground zero Synonyms

Synonyms

axis, base, capital, center, central, core, cynosure, epicenter, eye, focus, heart, hub, locus, mecca, navel, nerve center, nucleus, seat;

Related Words

headquarters;

happy hunting ground, hive, hotbed, hot spot, playground, playland;

kernel, nub, pith;

deep, thick;

essence, quintessence, soul;

attraction, lodestone (also loadstone), magnet, polestar;

Phrases

where it's at;

GROUND ZERO Defined for English Language Learners

ground zero

noun

Definition of ground zero for English Language Learners

: the point on the earth's surface directly above, below, or at which an explosion (especially a nuclear explosion) occurs
: the central point in an area of fast change or intense activity
: the beginning state or starting point