GROUND | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of ground in English groundnoun uk /ɡraʊnd/ us /ɡraʊnd/

ground noun (LAND)

 the ground [ S ] Add to word list Add to word list B1 the surface of the earth: I sat down on the ground.

• Cracks had appeared in the dry ground.
• The plane dived towards the ground and exploded in a ball of flame.
• A post had been driven into the ground near the tree.
• The nuclear waste has been entombed in concrete many metres under the ground.
• At the end of the race his legs gave out and he collapsed on the ground.

B2 [ U ] soil: soft/stony ground The ground was frozen hard and was impossible to dig. B1 [ C ] an area of land used for a particular purpose or activity: a football ground The lake has become a dumping ground for toxic chemicals. skills learnt on the training ground (= place where sports teams practise)  grounds [ plural ] C2 the gardens and land that surround a building and often have a wall or fence around them: We went for a walk around the hospital grounds. See more The Earth & outer space - general words

• ablate
• anti-gravity
• atmosphere
• atmospherically
• auroral
• geocentric
• gravity
• horizon
• hydrosphere
• infinite
• ionospheric
• lithosphere
• lithospheric
• macrocosm
• mesosphere
• mesospheric
• the Big Bang
• underground
• weightlessness
• zero gravity

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Soil Geography: areas of land in general

ground noun (CAUSE)

C2 [ C usually plural ] a reason, cause, or argument: on the grounds of The inquiry will be held in secret on the grounds of national security.ground for Do you have any ground for suspecting them? [ + to infinitive ] We have grounds to believe that you have been lying to us. [ + that ] He refused to answer on the grounds that the question violated his rights to privacy. the cause of something

• reasonI frankly don’t understand the reason for the delay.
• causeInvestigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire.
• rootWe need to get to the root of her problems.
• motiveThere seems to have been no motive for the murder.
• ground(s)On what grounds was she dismissed?

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• There should be no discrimination on the grounds of colour.
• Do you have any grounds for complaint ?
• The accused pleaded not guilty on grounds of diminished responsibility.
• He refused to say anything on the grounds that he might incriminate himself.
• She is suing the company on grounds of unfair dismissal.

Motives and reasons

• autotelic
• causeless
• drive
• first principles
• from a place of idiom
• hidden agenda
• impulse
• inclination
• justification
• mainspring
• motivation
• motive
• name
• peg
• place
• reason
• should
• wherefores
• why
• without cause

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ground noun (AREA OF KNOWLEDGE)

C2 [ U ] an area of knowledge or experience: familiar ground When the conversation turns to politics he's on familiar ground (= he knows a lot about this subject).common ground Once we'd found some common ground (= things we both knew about) we got along very well together.cover ground The lectures covered a lot of ground (= included information on many different subjects).go over ground I enjoyed her first novel, but I felt in the second she was going over the same ground (= dealing with the same area of experience).

• The debate is becoming polarized and there seems to be no middle ground.
• I think you're on very shaky ground with that argument.
• He's annoying to argue with because he keeps shifting his ground.
• The party has watered down its socialist ideals in order to appeal to the centre ground.
• We covered a lot of ground in the first few weeks of the course.

Topics & areas of interest

• affair
• angle
• backyard
• bailiwick
• centrism
• con
• convention
• current issue
• field
• front
• issue
• specialism
• subject
• talk
• talking of someone/something idiom
• talking point
• thematically
• themed
• thesis
• topically

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ground noun (POPULARITY)

 gain ground C1 If a political party or an idea or belief gains ground, it becomes more popular or accepted: The Republicans are gaining ground in the southern states. See more  lose ground C1 If a political party or an idea or belief loses ground, it becomes less popular or accepted: More conservative candidates are losing ground in key battleground states. See more

ground noun (WIRE)

[ C usually singular ] US (UK earth) a wire that makes a connection between a piece of electrical equipment and the ground, so the user is protected from feeling an electric shock if the equipment develops a fault Electrical switches & connections

• clicker
• coaxial
• corded
• dimmer
• dimmer switch
• junction box
• national grid
• outlet
• override
• patch
• patch someone through phrasal verb
• pause
• plug
• plug (something) in/plug (something) into something phrasal verb
• plug-in
• powerbank
• spark plug
• switchboard
• terminal
• wire

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ground noun (COFFEE)

 grounds [ plural ] the small grains of coffee left at the bottom of a cup or other container that has had coffee in it: A lot of coffee shops give away grounds for use in compost. See more

Idioms

drive/work yourself into the ground get (something) off the ground go/be run to ground on the ground groundverb uk /ɡraʊnd/ us /ɡraʊnd/

ground verb (GRIND)

past simple and past participle of grind Squeezing and grinding

• compression
• compressive
• concertina
• constrict
• constriction
• mash
• mill
• nip
• noncompressible
• pinch
• presser
• pulp
• snap
• squash
• squeeze
• squinch
• squish
• tamp
• unground
• unmilled

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ground verb (KEEP ON LAND)

 be grounded If a ship is grounded, it cannot move because it has hit solid ground: be grounded on The oil tanker was grounded on a sandbank. See more [ T often passive ] If aircraft are grounded, they are prevented from flying or ordered not to fly: The snowstorm meant that all planes were grounded. Air travel: travelling by aircraft

• aeronaut
• air bridge
• air corridor
• air taxi
• bird strike
• coach
• crash-land
• flying
• flyover
• jet
• jet lag
• jet-lagged
• landfall
• medevac
• non-flying
• open-jaw
• post-landing
• reclaim
• scramble
• taxi

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ground verb (PUNISH)

[ T ] to forbid (= refuse to allow) a child or young person from going out as a punishment: My parents grounded me for a week. Punishing & punishments

• ankle bracelet
• ankle tag
• ball and chain
• bar
• be brought/called to account idiom
• clamp
• endorse
• endorsement
• fixed penalty
• flay
• flay someone alive idiom
• get what's coming to you idiom
• gross misconduct
• penalty
• self-punishment
• short sharp shock idiom
• skin someone alive idiom
• slam dunk
• slap
• someone should be shot idiom

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ground verb (PUT WIRE)

[ T usually passive ] US (UK earth) to connect a piece of electrical equipment to the ground with a wire: You could get a nasty shock from that water heater if it isn't grounded properly. Electricity & electronics

• anodize
• anti-static
• bitstream
• brown out phrasal verb
• brownout
• capacitance
• electricity
• flick
• high-voltage
• homing
• induction
• lossy
• magnet
• magneto
• multiconductor
• multimeter
• negatively
• transistorized
• vibrate
• voltaic cell

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ground verb (CAUSE)

 be grounded in something formal to be based firmly on something: Fiction should be grounded in reality. See more groundadjective [ before noun ] uk /ɡraʊnd/ us /ɡraʊnd/ mainly US (UK usually minced) Ground food has been cut up into very small pieces, often using a special machine: ground turkey ground sirloin Preparing food

• batch cooking
• biga
• bind
• boil
• breadmaking
• butter
• buttered
• clarify
• gastronomically
• glaze
• glazed
• grate
• ingredient
• recipe
• rehydrate
• restuff
• rice
• rustle something up phrasal verb
• toss
• zap

See more results »

See also

ground beef (Definition of ground from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

ground | American Dictionary

groundus /ɡrɑʊnd/

ground (CRUSH)

Add to word list Add to word list past simple and past participle of grind groundnoun us /ɡrɑʊnd/

ground noun (LAND)

[ U ] the surface of the earth or of a piece of land: We laid a blanket on the ground for our picnic.

ground noun (AREA OF KNOWLEDGE)

[ U ] an area of knowledge or experience; a subject: This teacher just keeps going over the same ground again and again.

ground noun (CAUSE)

[ C usually pl ] a reason, cause, or argument: [ + that clause ] He refused to answer on the grounds that he’d promised to keep it secret.

ground noun (WIRE)

[ C ] a connection between a piece of electrical equipment and the earth, or a wire that makes this connection [ C ] A ground is also an object that holds a very large number of electrons, and can accept or supply more when there is an electric current.

Idiom

in on the ground floor groundverb [ T ] us /ɡrɑʊnd/

ground verb [T] (PUNISH)

infml to punish an older child by not allowing the child to go out or be involved in social activities: My parents grounded me for a week.

ground verb [T] (CAUSE)

to have a reason, cause, or argument for your actions or beliefs: His beliefs are grounded in his experience.

ground verb [T] (LAND)

to put or keep on the ground: All flights have been grounded because of the snowstorm. (Definition of ground from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

ground | Business English

groundnoun uk /ɡraʊnd/ us Add to word list Add to word list [ C, usually plural ] a reason for something: on (the) grounds of sth The doctor refused to surrender patient records on grounds of confidentiality.on the grounds that Researchers shut down the trial on the grounds that the vaccine was proving ineffectivegrounds for sth Only 13 of the contracts examined listed incompetence as legitimate grounds for dismissal.on health/environmental/legal grounds The college was shut on health and safety grounds. See also battleground dumping ground  drive/run/work sb into the ground to make someone work very hard, especially so that they become ill or extremely tired: Although we worked everyone into the ground, we didn't get the job done in time. They were running themselves into the ground.  drive/run/work sth into the ground to use something so much that it breaks or stops working: They decided to run the car into the ground instead of changing it.  gain/make ground to become more popular or successful: Despite making ground within her own party, she still has to watch her back.gain/make ground on sb The search engine is continuing to gain ground on the market leader. FINANCE to increase in value: The shares have steadily made ground.gain/make ground against sth The Euro continued to gain ground against the pound and the dollar through the course of the week.  get off the ground if a project or activity gets off the ground, it starts or starts to be successful: There is a difference between a project which never gets off the ground and one which suddenly goes bad.  get sth off the ground to start a project or activity or to start making it successful: A lot more money will be required to get this project off the ground.  give/lose ground to become less popular or successful: Smaller parties always lose ground in elections.give/lose ground to sb The firm is continuing to give ground to its foreign rivals. groundverb [ T ]   TRANSPORT uk /ɡraʊnd/ us to prevent a ship or aircraft from sailing or flying: The bad weather meant that helicopters were grounded. (Definition of ground from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press) What is the pronunciation of ground?

Translations of ground

in Chinese (Traditional) 陸地, 土, 土壤… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 陆地, 土, 土壤… See more in Spanish tierra, campo, toma de tierra… See more in Portuguese chão, terreno, campo… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Tamil in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Russian in Telugu in Arabic in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian जमीन, एखाद्या विशिष्ट हेतूसाठी किंवा कार्यासाठी वापरल्या जाणाऱ्या जमिनीचे क्षेत्र, कारण… See more “grind” の過去形、過去分詞形, 土, グラウンド… See more zemin, toprak, yer… See more terre [feminine], sol [masculine], terrain [masculine]… See more passat i participi passat de “grind”, terra, camp… See more grond, bodem, terrein… See more மண், ஒரு குறிப்பிட்ட நோக்கம் அல்லது செயல்பாட்டிற்காக பயன்படுத்தப்படும் நிலத்தின் ஒரு பகுதி, ஒரு காரணம்… See more मिट्टी, मृदा, मैदान… See more જમીન, મેદાન, કારણ… See more landjord, jord, område: -område… See more mark, marken, plan… See more tanah, padang, berasaskan… See more der (Erd)Boden, das Gebiet, stützen… See more bakke [masculine], grunn [masculine], sted [neuter]… See more زمین, زمین کا کوئی خطہ جوکسی خاص مقصد کےلئےہوتا ہے, بنیاد… See more ґрунт, земля, ділянка землі… See more земля, почва, участок… See more నేల, ఒక నిర్దిష్ట ప్రయోజనం లేదా కార్యాచరణ కోసం ఉపయోగించే భూమి ప్రాంతం, ఒక కారణం లేదా వాదన… See more grind الفِعل الماضي والتصريف الثالِث مِن, تُرْبة, أَرْض… See more মাটি, মাঠ, ময়দান… See more země, pozemek, hriště… See more tanah, lapangan, berdasarkan… See more ผิวดิน, พื้นที่ที่ใช้เพื่อจุดประสงค์บางอย่าง, วางรากฐาน… See more mặt đất, một khoảng đất, dựa vào… See more grunt, gleba, teren… See more “grind”의 과거, 과거 분사형, 토양… See more passato semplice e participio passato di “grind”, terreno, suolo… See more Need a translator?

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grouchily grouchiness grouching grouchy ground ground ball ground beef ground control BETA ground cover {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

More meanings of ground

• grind
• breeding ground
• burial ground
• ground floor
• ground rules
• middle ground
• ground ball

See all meanings

• grind something out phrasal verb
• grind someone down phrasal verb
• grind something into something phrasal verb

See all phrasal verb meanings

• in on the ground floor idiom
• break (fresh/new) ground idiom
• break ground idiom
• gain ground phrase
• lose ground phrase
• lose ground idiom
• shift (your) ground idiom

See all idioms and phrases

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• English   
  • Noun 
    • ground (LAND)
    • the ground
    • grounds
    • ground (CAUSE)
    • ground (AREA OF KNOWLEDGE)
    • ground (POPULARITY)
    • gain ground
    • lose ground
    • ground (WIRE)
    • ground (COFFEE)
    • grounds
  • Verb 
    • ground (GRIND)
    • ground (KEEP ON LAND)
    • be grounded
    • ground (PUNISH)
    • ground (PUT WIRE)
    • ground (CAUSE)
    • be grounded in something
  Adjective
• American   
  • Noun 
    • ground (LAND)
    • ground (AREA OF KNOWLEDGE)
    • ground (CAUSE)
    • ground (WIRE)
  • Verb 
    • ground (PUNISH)
    • ground (CAUSE)
    • ground (LAND)
• Business   
  • Noun 
    • ground
    • drive/run/work sb into the ground
    • drive/run/work sth into the ground
    • gain/make ground
    • get off the ground
    • get sth off the ground
    • give/lose ground
  Verb

• Translations
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