Meaning & use
no man's land
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Meanings
noununcountable
An area of land between opposing armies that is not controlled by either side and is very dangerous to enter.
Grammar: Used without 'a' or 'the' when talking about the area in general; can take 'the' when referring to a specific area.
Patterns
- in no man's land
- into no man's land
- across no man's land
The soldiers were ordered not to cross into no man's land.
During the war, no man's land was filled with barbed wire and craters.
The rescue team had to crawl through no man's land to reach the wounded.
noununcountablefigurative
A situation or area that is unclear, unclaimed, or belongs to no one, often causing confusion or disagreement.
Grammar: Often used figuratively after 'in' or 'into' to describe an ambiguous state or place.
Patterns
- in no man's land
- a kind of no man's land
- no man's land between something
After the company restructured, many employees found themselves in a kind of no man's land, unsure of their roles.
The border region is a no man's land where neither country's laws clearly apply.
Her research sits in no man's land between biology and chemistry.
Common combinations
- in no man's land
- The village was left in no man's land after the fighting moved away.
- cross no man's land
- It was suicide to cross no man's land in daylight.
- a patch of no man's land
- They stopped at a patch of no man's land between the two checkpoints.
- no man's land between
- The park became a no man's land between the two rival neighborhoods.
Synonyms and how they differ
- no-man's-land
- Same meaning; the hyphenated form is common in British English.
- limbo
- Used for an uncertain situation, but not for a physical area of land.
- buffer zone
- A neutral area between two sides, often established by agreement, less dangerous than no man's land.
Commonly confused: no man's land or nomansland?
no man's land vs nomansland
Sometimes written as one word, but the standard forms are 'no man's land' or 'no-man's-land'.
Practice
The soldiers refused to enter ______ because it was full of enemy snipers.
Choose one answer.
The correct phrase is 'no man's land' with an apostrophe and no plural -s. 'No mans land' is a common misspelling, and 'no man's lands' wrongly suggests a countable plural.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “no man's land”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.