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.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ground rules

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

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 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

The ground rules were clear: Nothing they said would leave the room.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 21, 2026

"And so we are doing everything that we possibly can to keep fighting. And I think we will be successful; we just need to know what the ground rules are."

From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2025

Pattie set down some ground rules on Thursday.

From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan