no man's land

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noun

an area between opposing armies, over which no control has been established.

an unowned or unclaimed tract of usually barren land.

an indefinite or ambiguous area where guidelines and authority are not clear: a no man's land between acceptance and rejection.

(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.

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Origin of no man's land

Middle English word dating back to 1300–50

Words nearby no man's land

nomadic, nomadism, nomadize, No man can serve two masters, No man is an island, no man's land, nomarch, nomarchy, no-mark, no-mates, no matter

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use no man's land in a sentence

In the first episode, an officer is shown video of himself shooting and killing a man.
'Babylon' Review: The Dumb Lives of Trigger-Happy Cops|Melissa Leon|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
That man was Xavier Cortada, a gay man who wrote of his frustration that he and his partner of eight years were unable to marry.
Jeb Bush’s Unseen Anti-Gay Marriage Emails|Jackie Kucinich|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It is the summit of human happiness: the surrender of man to God, of woman to man, of several women to the same man.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
But no more so than the Sodexo building maintenance man or the two cops who were also killed in the crossfire.
Trolls and Martyrdom: Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie|Arthur Chu|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST

He looks like a man who should have had kids, but now never will.
The Muslim Cop Killed by Terrorists|Michael Daly|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Davy looked around and saw an old man coming toward them across the lawn.
Davy and The Goblin|Charles E. Carryl
The supernaturalist alleges that religion was revealed to man by God, and that the form of this revelation is a sacred book.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
The most High hath created medicines out of the earth, and a wise man will not abhor them.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various
He remembered something—the cherished pose of being a man plunged fathoms-deep in business.
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini
On the thirteenth of the same month they bound to the stake, in order to burn alive, a man who had two religious in his house.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XX, 1621-1624|Various

British Dictionary definitions for no man's land

no-man's-land

noun

land between boundaries, esp an unoccupied zone between opposing forces

an unowned or unclaimed piece of land

an ambiguous area of activity or thought

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012