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

Already, the government has strung concertina wire at ground level to prevent access to the monument as construction gets underway for the first row. —Brandon Loomis, AZCentral.com, 13 Dec. 2025

Jacquemus’ Cubisto slingback pumps introduced the same strict lines at ground level. —Maggie Clancy, Footwear News, 13 Dec. 2025

Up to one half foot of saltwater inundation above ground level is expected near shorelines and tidal waterways. —Ca Weather Bot, Sacbee.com, 3 Dec. 2025

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