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

Auld-Thomas: The main difference between the way that ecologists use lidar and the way that archaeologists use it is that ecologists are interested in everything that's happening above ground level. —Anna Lagos, WIRED, 2 Nov. 2024

The system may produce rainfall of 2 to 4 inches across portions of the northern Yucatán Peninsula as well, where storm surge may raise water levels by 2 to 4 feet above ground level, the hurricane center said. —Mirna Alsharif, NBC News, 7 Oct. 2024

Don’t hesitate to cut stems all the way back to ground level. —Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Oct. 2024

An unprecedented 10- to 15-foot surge above ground level could lead to a huge footprint of real estate being inundated along and to the south of the point of landfall. —Rebecca Falconer, Axios, 9 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1787, in the meaning defined at sense 1