Dictionary

ground zero en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌɡɹaʊnd ˈzɪəɹəʊ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /-ˈzi(ˌ)ɹoʊ/ (General-American)
• /ˌɡɹaʊnd ˈzɪɚ(ˌ)oʊ/ (General-American)
• (US) audio

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.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) 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 1986, "Weird Al" Yankovic, “Christmas at Ground Zero”, in Polka Party!:
   • Some of the construction details (reinforcing rod splices, for example) [in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan] were often poor, and much of the concrete was definitely weak; thus some reinforced concrete buildings collapsed and suffered structural damage when within 2,000 feet of ground zero, and some internal wall paneling was demolished even up to 3,800 feet. 1946 June 19, U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, “The Effects of the Atomic Bombings”, in The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, [s.l.]: Chairman’s Office, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2021, page 5:
2. (broadly, countable, uncountable) 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." 2011 April 21, Suzanne Goldenberg, quoting Jan Jarrett, “Pennsylvania: the ‘ground zero’ of the US shale gas drilling boom”, in The Guardian:
   • 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; […] 2019 October 17, Matt Stieb, “Florida GOP Regrets ‘Lost’ Decade on Climate Change”, in New York Magazine:
   • For Larson and other activists, Kamilo Beach has become ground zero of the crisis. 2020 January 10, Liz Barney, Michelle Broder Van Dyke, “Welcome to Hawaii's ‘plastic beach’, one of the world's dirtiest places”, in The Guardian:
   • The two West Virginia local authorities accuse the distributors of turning Cabell county, with a population of just 90,000, into the “ground zero of the opioid epidemic sweeping the nation”, by flooding the area with nearly 100m opioid pills over a decade. 2021 May 3, Chris McGreal, “‘Ground zero of the opioid epidemic’: West Virginia puts drug giants on trial”, in The Guardian:
3. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) The point at which something begins.
   • Less than two years into the job, she has transformed Washington into ground zero of America’s education reform movement. 2009 March 21, Nicholas Kristof, “Education’s Ground Zero”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • 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. 1997 May 4, Adam Nossiter, “Ground Zero”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Forms

Deriveds

Ground Zero

Hypernyms

epicenter · hypocenter · hypocentre · epicentre

Translations (34)

fr point zéro (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · la solum nihil (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · fi nollapiste (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · es punto cero (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · pl strefa zero (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · eo nultero (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · ja 落下地点 (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · la terra nihil (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · cmn 爆心投影點 /爆心投影点 (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · hu epicentrum (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · es tierra cero (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · cmn 原爆點 /原爆点 (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · pl strefa zero (point at which something begins) · eu zero gune (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · et plahvatuse epitsenter (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · sh површинска ну̏ла (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · sh povrsinska nȕla (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · ru эпице́нтр взрыва (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · nl maalde nul (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · it terra zero (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · ko 그라운드 제로 (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · sh nȕltī tȁčka (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · ko 폭심지 (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · de Bodennullpunkt (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · ko 원폭점 (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · ja グラウンドゼロ (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · sh ну̏лтӣ та̏чка (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · he גראונד זירו (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · pt ponto de impacto (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · tr yer sıfır noktası (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · ja 爆心地点 (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · ja 爆心地 (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · es zona cero (point on the land or water surface below, at, or above the detonation of a nuclear bomb) · pl strefa zero (location of any disaster or violent assault)

wikipedia: United States Strategic Bombing Survey