- present participle of zone.
zoning
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of zoning
Explanation
Zoning is the process of splitting areas of land up into sections and clarifying what each of those sections can be used for. Your city's zoning might not allow you to build an enormous lighthouse in your front yard. Laws in a town or city that restrict what you can use land for are collectively known as zoning. Your neighborhood's zoning might allow multifamily homes and small businesses, while your cousin's area of town may have zoning that restricts it to single-family houses. In cities, zoning laws dictate where schools, medical clinics, homeless shelters, restaurants, parking lots, and liquor stores can be built. It may seem boring, but zoning affects daily life for most people.
Vocabulary lists containing zoning
Human Geography - Middle School
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Human Geography - High School
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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.
Local zoning, power and labor constraints cap new U.S. tower construction at just 1,200 to 2,000 structures per year, meaning that SpaceX would have to lease existing space from major tower operators.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
In a city that was built on oil and remains home to over 2,000 active wells, zoning officials are considering a first: shutting down an oil production site.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
“It has increased in value because of zoning and because of time.”
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026
Rather, it has a patchwork of municipal and county zoning ordinances, with some — including in the cities of Burbank and Culver City and Alameda County — requiring buffer zones.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
I just keep shooting hoops, zoning out, pretending that I will never have to go into my house again—that I will never have to remember what happened before I began shooting hoops.
From "Boy21" by Matthew Quick
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.
