no man's land
Americannoun
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an area between opposing armies, over which no control has been established.
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an unowned or unclaimed tract of usually barren land.
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an indefinite or ambiguous area where guidelines and authority are not clear.
a no man's land between acceptance and rejection.
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(in tennis, handball, etc.) the area of a court in which a player is at a tactical disadvantage, as the area of a tennis court about midway between the net and the base line.
noun
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land between boundaries, esp an unoccupied zone between opposing forces
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an unowned or unclaimed piece of land
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an ambiguous area of activity or thought
Etymology
Origin of no man's land
Middle English word dating back to 1300–50
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.
From a technical perspective, Meta is stuck in no man’s land.
From Barron's • Dec. 10, 2025
On crude, “we are also still in no man’s land regarding the glut,” Neil Crosby of Sparta Commodities says in a note.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025
It’s the dreaded no man’s land, the netherworld between borderline contention and full capitulation.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 25, 2023
It's left him in a psychological no man's land.
From BBC • May 19, 2023
By day, nothing seemed to move out there, but at night no man’s land came alive with patrols that went out at dusk and returned at dawn.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
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.
