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Synonyms

gray area

Idioms  
  1. Indeterminate territory, undefined position, neither here nor there. For example, There's a large gray area between what is legal and what is not. This term, which uses gray in the sense of “neither black nor white” (or halfway between the two), dates only from the mid-1900s.


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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“The gauge is gone. The gray area is gone.”

From Los Angeles Times May 18, 2026

But unlike their colleagues in London and New York, the Budapest analysts work in a regulatory gray area.

From The Wall Street Journal May 5, 2026

Cases like Monique’s highlight that gray area between passengers behaving badly, your own feelings of safety as a passenger, and official U.S.

From MarketWatch Apr. 10, 2026

That was a huge burden on our editors, especially since it was still a gray area.

From Slate Apr. 1, 2026

“Now cheerleading, that’s a sport. A sport with dignity. You make it or you don’t. There’s no gray area, not like with volleyball.”

From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia

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