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:
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
From a technical perspective, Meta is stuck in no man’s land.
From Barron's ● Dec. 10, 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
In my eyes then, it was a threatening openness, a no man’s land.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
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
To reach Ukraine, the pensioners had to drag their bags across a two-kilometre stretch of no-man's-land.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 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
A little ways down the wall behind us, a girl has slipped into the no-man's-land of the prairie.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
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.
