demilitarized zone
Americannoun
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an area in which it is forbidden to station military forces or maintain military installations.
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Informal. any area, place, or circumstance in which conflicts or hostilities are held in abeyance. DMZ
Etymology
Origin of demilitarized zone
First recorded in 1930–35
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea he was asked by his North Korean escort if he wanted to shout “Yankee go home!”
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 15, 2025
Now, they see Israeli forces routinely moving around their own village, parts of which jut into the demilitarized zone.
From BBC • Dec. 15, 2024
As NPR noted, “It’s also a reminder that while the demilitarized zone divides the north and south, it did not sever centuries’ worth of Koreans’ shared family ties and culture.”
From Salon • Aug. 7, 2024
They were headed, about 150 of them, for the demilitarized zone: the narrow buffer strip between North and South Korea that is heavily guarded by concertina wire and rifle-toting soldiers.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2024
Other than that, we keep on our own sides of the demilitarized zone.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
