Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

neutral ground

/ˈnuːtɹəl ɡraʊnd/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.19 in modern English

Syllables: neu-tral -ground
IPA: /ˈnuːtɹəl ɡraʊnd/

15

Scrabble Score

13

Letters

3

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The median strip or central reservation between lanes of traffic in a divided highway.

noun

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see neutral, ground.

Example Sentences

"I just hope it's not the two guys who've been assigned to cut the grass on the neutral grounds for the past ten years; man, things would really be different around here without them."
"He arranged a Crush with the tribes. A meeting on neutral ground. He wanted to talk."

Etymology

(Sense 1) Per Chase (1979), probably the first explanation of the term neutral ground is by George Cable in 1884: "The people of New Orleans take pride in Canal street^([sic])... Its two distinct granite paved roadways are each forty feet wide, and the tree-bordered 'neutral ground' measures fifty-four feet across. It was 'neutral' when it divided between the French Quarter [i.e., the Creole section] and the Americans [the Anglo section] at the time when their municipality governments were distinct from each other." The Creole and Anglo sections of the city were historically antagonistic toward one another, making the small space between them a notable, if somewhat jocular, "neutral" space.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈnuːtɹəl ɡraʊnd/

Inflected Forms

neutral grounds (plural)

Questions

How do you pronounce neutral ground?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈnuːtɹəl ɡraʊnd/.
What does neutral ground mean?: The median strip or central reservation between lanes of traffic in a divided highway.
Where does neutral ground come from?: (Sense 1) Per Chase (1979), probably the first explanation of the term neutral ground is by George Cable in 1884: "The people of New Orleans take pride in Canal street^([sic])... Its two distinct granite paved roadways are each forty feet wide, and the tree-bordered 'neutral ground' measures fifty-four feet across. It was 'neutral' when it divided between the French Quarter [i.e., the Creole section] and the Americans [the Anglo section] at the time when their municipality governments were distinct from each other." The Creole and Anglo sections of the city were historically antagonistic toward one another, making the small space between them a notable, if somewhat jocular, "neutral" space.

How to pronounce neutral ground

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