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buffer zone
noun
: a neutral area separating conflicting forces
broadly
: an area designed to separate
Examples of buffer zone in a Sentence
There must be a 500-foot buffer zone between the river and the new buildings.
Recent Examples on the Web
Last year, the state legislature passed a law creating a 25-foot buffer zone between police and civilians.
—Kristine Phillips, The Indianapolis Star, 27 Feb. 2024
The plan also says that Israel will seek to retain control over a sliver of land inside Gaza, along the Israeli border, where its military is systematically demolishing thousands of buildings in order to create another buffer zone.
—Thomas Fuller, New York Times, 23 Feb. 2024
Putin also raised the prospect of taking Ukraine’s Kharkiv region as a buffer zone between Russia.
—TIME, 18 Mar. 2024
California Forever said the new community would be 4.5 miles from the base with a security buffer zone where there would be nothing other than agriculture and solar farms.
—Melody Gutierrez, Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 2024
At the same time, Egypt is building a new walled buffer zone more than 2 miles wide on Gaza border.
—Alexandra Banner, CNN, 16 Feb. 2024
Egyptian officials are already pushing back against an Israeli plan to maintain control over a buffer zone along the border, where smuggling tunnels have proliferated in the past.
—Lior Soroka, Washington Post, 23 Jan. 2024
The roughly 16,000-acre site, which includes a huge buffer zone, is jointly operated by a contractor and Sandia National Laboratory on land owned by the energy department and Texas Tech University, according to Texas Health and Human Services.
—USA TODAY, 28 Feb. 2024
Among them are Israel maintaining indefinite free military operations in Gaza and a buffer zone inside Gaza along the fence separating Israel and Gaza.
—Aya Batrawy, NPR, 23 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'buffer zone.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1908, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near buffer zone
Cite this Entry
“Buffer zone.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buffer%20zone. Accessed 11 May. 2024.
Legal Definition
buffer zone
noun
: an area designed to separate: as
a
: an area with certain boundaries beyond which protestors may not pass
b
: an area separating land used for different purposes
a buffer zone between the development and the park
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