ground floor
Americannoun
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the floor of a building at or nearest to ground level.
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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.
noun
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the floor of a building level or almost level with the ground
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informal
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to enter a business, organization, etc, at the lowest level
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to be in a project, undertaking, etc, from its inception
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Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ground floor
First recorded in 1595–1605
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.
A 12-year-old Labrador retriever named Sugar was sprawled on a hardwood floor of a Brooklyn apartment.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 17, 2026
“This is what happens when you, politely speaking, piss off the spirits here,” Meieran explained, pointing to a bizarre 7-inch mound warping the hardwood floor in his office.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 4, 2024
They push, bump and occasionally crash out as they jostle for position on the hardwood floor.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 26, 2024
While no one was hurt by the object, pictures provided by authorities show how the 4-inch-by-6-inch rock penetrated the roof and dented the home’s hardwood floor.
From Washington Times • May 9, 2023
She was a windup toy zooming over a hardwood floor.
From "Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World" by Ashley Herring Blake
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
