ground rules

Idioms  

1. Basic procedures of conduct, as in The press secretary sets the ground rules for all of the President's press conferences. The term comes from baseball, where it refers to specific rules for a particular ballpark, which are based on special conditions such as a very high outfield fence or a field obstruction of some kind. It began to be transferred to more general use in the mid-1900s.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ground rules

The differences between Beijing and Washington on the ground rules and agenda raise doubts about whether the extraordinary meeting will happen, despite the U.S.,

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2026

Or approach your boss about setting clearer ground rules in meetings.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

“There were ground rules laid with the committee before we walked in there and we simply wanted to stick to those,” Dhillon said.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

However, judges said their opinion, which is not binding, should not be understood as laying out any other ground rules for strike action.

From Barron's ● May 21, 2026

My dad says, “We also discussed some ground rules for this project of yours.”

From "All The Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---