no man's land n 🔊

1. (military) The ground between trenches where a soldier from either side would be easily targeted.
2. (nautical) A space amidships used to keep blocks, ropes, etc.; a space on a ship belonging to no one in particular for which to care.
3. The part of a prison, hospital complex, etc. where individuals are not normally allowed to enter.
4. (figurative) A place where no one can or should be present.
5. (tennis) The area between the backcourt and the space close to the net, from which it is difficult to return the ball.
6. (cricket) An area of the field where a fielder cannot save a single, nor stop a boundary.
7. (politics, geography) Territory that is often disputed, and that cannot be inhabited because of fear of conflict, especially:
   1. (historical) Tracts of uninhabited territory close to the Iron Curtain.
   2. The stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states, sometimes separated by great distance.
   3. Land that is not claimed by any recognized sovereign state; a terra nullius.
8. (medicine, anatomy) The fibrous sheath of the flexor tendons of the hand, specifically in the zone from the distal palmar crease to the proximal interphalangeal joint.

☞ World War I started on this day in 1914.

Aerial view Loos-Hulluch trench system July 1917.jpg

An aerial photograph showing opposing trenches and no man's land (sense 1) between Loos and Hulluch in France during World War I

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day/2026/July_28