GROUND ZERO

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ground zero mean? 

• GROUND ZERO (noun)
  The noun GROUND ZERO has 3 senses:

1. the target of a projectile (as a bomb or missile)

2. the site of the World Trade Center before it was destroyed

3. the point of detonation (or above or below) of a nuclear weapon

  Familiarity information: GROUND ZERO used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GROUND ZERO (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The target of a projectile (as a bomb or missile)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("ground zero" is a kind of...):

target; target area (the location of the target that is to be hit)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The site of the World Trade Center before it was destroyed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Instance hypernyms:

land site; site (the piece of land on which something is located (or is to be located))

Holonyms ("ground zero" is a part of...):

Greater New York; New York; New York City (the largest city in New York State and in the United States; located in southeastern New York at the mouth of the Hudson river; a major financial and cultural center)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The point of detonation (or above or below) of a nuclear weapon

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("ground zero" is a kind of...):

point (the precise location of something; a spatially limited location)

 Context examples 

The study appears in the latest issue of The Journal of the America Medical Association and could be an effective ground zero in the fight against the current opioid epidemic.

(Study: Common Painkillers as Effective as Opioids in Hospital Emergency Room, VOA)

It's an expanded record of events that we were able to recover from within 'ground zero,' said Gulick, who led the study and co-led the International Ocean Discovery Program scientific drilling mission that retrieved the rocks from the impact site off the Yucatan Peninsula.

(Rocks at asteroid impact site record first day of dinosaur extinction, National Science Foundation)