no man's land
noun
an area between opposing armies, over which no control has been established.
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no man's land
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no-man's-land
no-man's-landnounland between boundaries, esp an unoccupied zone between opposing forces
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.
no-man's-land
British
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.
See Examples For:
In rare access to Yemen's conflict zone, the BBC has travelled with government forces from Taiz through checkpoints to the line where the Houthi control ends and no man's land begins.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
Research for “The Hidden Nations of Animals” took Mr. Huling to some far-flung locations, including the accidental nature sanctuary that’s arisen in the no man’s land between North and South Korea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Vlasic then drove the knife in deeper still 20 minutes from time with a cushioned volley to beat goalkeeper Mathias Lamhauge, who had strayed into no man's land.
From Barron's ● Nov. 14, 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
At Loos, the gas hung over no man’s land and drifted back into the British trenches, sickening hundreds of men and holding up their advance.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
Marooned in this no-man’s-land for decades now has been the agency assigned the task of enforcing federal gun laws, the ATF.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
This map shows the hundreds of ships huddling at either end of the strait, which has become a no-man’s-land.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
He was then exiled in 1992 to a no-man's-land between Israel and Lebanon, along with a number of Hamas leaders.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2024
In a rare display of unity, he and President Nikos Christodoulides, the Greek Cypriot leader, met in no-man’s-land dividing the Cypriot capital Nicosia on Friday.
From Reuters ● Jul. 28, 2023
I stood there awkwardly by myself in this no-man’s-land in the middle of the playground.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
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.
