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

Anthropic is resisting the Pentagon’s requests to use its tech in ways that violate two company ground rules: That it won’t be used for mass surveillance of Americans or to power fully autonomous weapons.

From Slate • Feb. 28, 2026

Residents remembered some shouting at early HOA meetings, but the board started to meet less often and lay out more ground rules.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 11, 2026

"I think it gets some basic ground rules in place but of course, it does depend on the attitude of the tech platforms adopting the practical guidance put forward," she said.

From BBC • Nov. 25, 2025

Before you begin, you need to set ground rules, like no crosstalk or fingerpointing or bad language or namecalling etc.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 21, 2025

In addition, the work he did following those ground rules was of immense importance.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin