ground level

noun

plural ground levels

1

a

: the level of the ground taken as a reference point

From ground level, the arrayed fields of feed corn and soybeans look … like sprint tracks or Olympic pools, replete with the angles and alleys of serious tennis.

—David Foster Wallace

These survey flights were conducted at 300 feet above ground level. During the return flight to Schefferville, the aircraft descended and flew over terrain at an altitude varying between 100 and 40 feet above ground level.

—Targeted New Service

compare sea level

b

: the story (see story entry 3 sense 1a) of a building with its floor aligned to ground level : ground floor sense 1

It was a two-story house with white siding on the ground level …

—Neil Sheehan

2

: the state of a physical system (as of an atomic nucleus or an atom) having the least energy of all the possible states : ground state

Examples of ground level in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That’s because of Helene’s storm surge of up to 8 feet that inundated older properties built decades ago at ground level. —Martin E. Comas, The Orlando Sentinel, 29 May 2025

The plan also calls for park-like traffic circles at ground level at MAST and at the Marine Stadium entrance -- which now has no crosswalk and no signal -- and improvements at the two other intersections on the causeway road two on Virginia Key. —Andres Viglucci, Miami Herald, 23 May 2025

In heavy timber, lichen often grows all around the trunks of trees from ground level to a height of six inches or so. —Ted Updike, Outdoor Life, 22 May 2025

Trost said the flames were on aerial tracks starting from right underneath the tracks, but not at ground level. —Harry Harris, Mercury News, 20 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1787, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for ground level

• daredevil
• sublevel
• bevel
• devil
• mediaeval
• multilevel