gray area

Idioms and Phrases

Indeterminate territory, undefined position, neither here nor there. For example, There's a large gray area between what is legal and what is not . This term, which uses gray in the sense of “neither black nor white” (or halfway between the two), dates only from the mid-1900s.

Example Sentences

What the show does incredibly well is dancing in the gray area.

From Los Angeles Times

For Redmayne, this gray area between right and wrong “spoke to the moment.”

From Los Angeles Times

He has referred to himself as a “pro-life” candidate and recently called protecting access to reproductive rights a “gray area.”

From Salon

You're playing the head of this family that is in jeopardy, but very quickly it becomes apparent that this is a complicated guy who has existed in a morally gray area.

From Salon

California regulators indicated it’s a gray area and there does not appear to be an effort to clarify the rules or develop new ones.

From Los Angeles Times