as in center
a thing or place that is of greatest importance to an activity or interest
a city that was once ground zero for the insurance industry
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Recent Examples of ground zero
Right now, Minnesota feels like ground zero for something terrifying.
—
Phil Morris The Minnesota Star Tribune, Arkansas Online, 10 Jan. 2026
While Hangzhou heavyweights like Alibaba and DeepSeek are hard at work on cutting-edge AI, a leafy, hipster-meets-hacker suburb called Liangzhu has become ground zero for AI's quirkier side.
—Elaine Yu, CNBC, 2 Jan. 2026
Among the crowd in Tampa was Silas Pearson, vice president of the largest Turning Point chapter in the country, at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, ground zero for evangelical higher education.
—Andrew Cockburn, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
Hands are ground zero for daily wear.
—Adam Hurly, Robb Report, 29 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ground zero
Phil Morris The Minnesota Star Tribune, Arkansas Online, 10 Jan. 2026
While Hangzhou heavyweights like Alibaba and DeepSeek are hard at work on cutting-edge AI, a leafy, hipster-meets-hacker suburb called Liangzhu has become ground zero for AI's quirkier side.
—Elaine Yu, CNBC, 2 Jan. 2026
Among the crowd in Tampa was Silas Pearson, vice president of the largest Turning Point chapter in the country, at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, ground zero for evangelical higher education.
—Andrew Cockburn, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
Hands are ground zero for daily wear.
—Adam Hurly, Robb Report, 29 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ground zero
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ground zero
Noun
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About 80 warming centers were opened across the state, known as one of the nation's poorest.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
30 Jan. 2026
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On the company’s earnings call, analysts asked CEO Tim Cook several questions about Apple’s access to memory components, which have seen their prices skyrocket due to demand related to chips necessary for artificial intelligence data centers.—
Kif Leswing,
CNBC,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Some of Thursday’s decline was related to Wall Street not being happy with how much the company was spending on investments for the future (capital expenditures), and the cloud business Azure may not have done as well as some hoped.—
Jason Gewirtz,
CNBC,
30 Jan. 2026
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However, some oil executives have expressed discomfort with the idea of sending capital into Venezuela.—
Moriah Thomas,
CNN Money,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Retail stores, bars and restaurants have been transformed into mutual aid hubs.—
Alicia Wallace,
CNN Money,
24 Jan. 2026
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Sitting in the heart of northeast Minneapolis's business district, the coffee shop has become a hub for people opposing ICE.—
Reg Chapman,
CBS News,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The Lane Bryant store is now gone, the shopping center on the far west side of Tinley Park has blossomed and life in the southwest suburb now known as an entertainment mecca goes on.—
Donna Vickroy,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Jan. 2026
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The Bay Area is a mecca for social dancing, from salsa to line dancing to modern ballroom, said Richard Powers, a choreographer and dance historian who teaches social dance classes at Stanford University.—
Martha Ross,
Mercury News,
24 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Stepheny Price is a Writer at Fox News with a focus on West Coast and Midwest news, missing persons, national and international crime stories, homicide cases, and border security.—
Stepheny Price,
FOXNews.com,
13 Jan. 2026
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Barra says the focus now is on making cars more affordable, incorporating artificial intelligence and new technology like Google Gemini to make the vehicles safer and appealing to the consumer.—
Julia Avant,
CBS News,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
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In other words, the grid is being squeezed from both ends—compute at the top, basic comfort at the base.—
Güney Yıldız,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
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This marks a deceleration compared with the third quarter, when fashion sales dipped 2%, against a tougher base of comparison due to last year’s post-election bump in the US.—
Laure Guilbault,
Vogue,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Some could have been as small as an atomic nucleus.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
23 Jan. 2026
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During a nuclear collision, nuclei can absorb and emit a vast number of these lower-energy photons.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Mobile units have core tasks of license plate collection and vehicle pattern tracking.—
Asra Q. Nomani , Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi,
FOXNews.com,
30 Jan. 2026
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The birth of Endeavor startled Hollywood, but Endeavor’s subsequent takeover of powerhouse William Morris shook the town to its core.—
Mike Fleming Jr,
Deadline,
29 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Ground zero.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ground%20zero. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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