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ground zero

noun
/ˌɡɹaʊnd ˈzɪəɹəʊ/UK/ˌɡɹaʊnd ˈzɪɚ(ˌ)oʊ/US

Etymology

From ground + zero, first attested in a June 1946 a report by the United States Strategic Bombing Survey on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on August 6 and 9, 1945, during World War II. “Zero” was used as the code name for the location of the Trinity atomic bomb test – the first detonation of a nuclear weapon – in New Mexico, USA, on July 16, 1945.

  1. derived from शून्य — “void; nothingness”
  2. derived from صِفْر
  3. derived from zēphirum
  4. borrowed from zero
  5. borrowed from zero
  6. borrowed from zero
  7. compounded as ground zero — “ground + zero”

Definitions

  1. Originally, the point on the land or water surface below which a nuclear bomb detonates…

    Originally, the point on the land or water surface below which a nuclear bomb detonates in the air; now also the point on such a surface at or above the detonation.

    • It's Christmas at ground zero / The button has been pressed / The radio / Just let us know / That this is not a test

  2. The location of any disaster or violent assault.

    • "This is ground zero," she said. "If regulators don't adopt a zero tolerance for violations of standards then what we will have are places that are going to have unacceptable environmental damage."
    • Florida has been called a “ground zero” for climate change in America, as the state is expected to face the highest temperature rise in the southeast; […]
    • For Larson and other activists, Kamilo Beach has become ground zero of the crisis.

  3. The point at which something begins.

    • James Meredith's forced admission was a milestone in upending the old order in America's most segregated state, a kind of race relations ground zero.
    • Less than two years into the job, she has transformed Washington into ground zero of America’s education reform movement.
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. The site of the former World Trade Center towers in New York City destroyed on 11…

      The site of the former World Trade Center towers in New York City destroyed on 11 September 2001.

The neighborhood

Derived

Ground Zero

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for ground zero. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA