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:
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
After those two days in no man's land - between India and Bangladesh - she says she was taken to what appeared to be an old prison on the Bangladeshi side.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2025
"But ultimately you have to go with the integrity of the players. How do you enforce it? It is your word against theirs. You're in no man's land."
From BBC ● May 27, 2025
I crossed a high toll bridge and negotiated a no man’s land and came to the place where the Stars and Stripes stood shoulder to shoulder with the Union Jack.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
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
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
It was as if she had come up on the edge of something, as if she were caught in that no-man’s-land between Cleveland Heights and deep jungle.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
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.
