ground floor

noun

1. the floor of a building at or nearest to ground level.
2. Informal. an advantageous position or opportunity in a business matter, especially in a new enterprise:

   She took the job in the new company because she wanted to get in on the ground floor.

ground floor

noun

1. the floor of a building level or almost level with the ground
2. get in on the ground floor informal.
   get in on the ground floorstart from the ground floor
   1. to enter a business, organization, etc, at the lowest level
   2. to be in a project, undertaking, etc, from its inception

Word History and Origins

Origin of ground floor¹

First recorded in 1595–1605

Example Sentences

The company disagrees that it is impossible for employees to accomplish social distancing at the Bessemer site, which spans more than 855,000 square feet on its ground floor.

From Time

Wasserstrum believes the difficult events of recent months will ultimately have a positive impact on workspaces, including those on the ground floor.

From Digiday

My career has been spent working with startups, from the ground floor up to acquisition.

From Fortune

I thought the idea of starting on the ground floor and helping build a foundation was pretty cool.

From Washington Post

Investors observed legalization sweeping the US, and saw the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an industry projected to become worth tens of billions of dollars.

From Quartz

Entering Morbid Anatomy from an unremarkable, industrial street in Brooklyn, its ground-floor coffee shop/bookstore is buzzing.

From The Daily Beast

The owners live upstairs and the ground floor next to the backyard is a secluded place with simple chairs and tables for guests.

From The Daily Beast

The earthen ground floor was reserved for crop storage and the occasional chicken or other small animal.

From The Daily Beast

The ground floor of the structure is revered by Jews as the final resting place of King David.

From The Daily Beast

He had been renting his current place—a ground-floor apartment in a house on a hill—for the past four years.

From The Daily Beast

Below the great gothic windows spreads the awning of a café, which takes up all the ground floor.

From Project Gutenberg

Why should not the thief have simply entered by the window of the study, which like the kitchen, was on the ground floor?

From Project Gutenberg

At the bureau he ordered a couple of packs of cards and a supply of drinks and went to his palatial room on the ground floor.

From Project Gutenberg

The little room in which he was accustomed to sit, when busy at his books, was on the ground-floor, at the back of the house.

From Project Gutenberg

It consists of a ground floor, somewhat raised, with large windows, and handsome porticoes resting upon columns.

From Project Gutenberg