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:
During his illustrious career, he saved Borussia Dortmund after the club had been on the verge of bankruptcy, and years later, he pulled Liverpool out of no man's land in the Premier League standings.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
Abuja was presented as neutral territory - officially described as "no man's land".
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2026
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
Out beyond the frontline trenches, no man’s land separating the opposing armies might be anywhere from a mile or more across to barely twenty-five yards wide.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
But enforcement of these laws has long occupied an unusual no-man’s-land in this country, scrambling the standard political lines around criminal justice.
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
Soon the Ziwaris would be on the brink of a more terrifying leg of the journey: the no-man’s-land between Colombia and Panama.
From Reuters ● Feb. 1, 2023
In the ninth, Mets star Francisco Lindor was caught in no-man’s-land on the bases and thrown out.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 18, 2022
There was a solidarity among the people in Shady’s bar that night, as one by one they emerged from their trenches and ventured into no-man’s-land.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
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.
