ground zero

Meaning

Noun

• Originally, the point on the land or water surface below which a nuclear bomb detonates in the air; now also the point on such a surface at or above the detonation.
• The location of any disaster or violent assault.
• The point at which something begins.

Related

Broader meaning words

• epicenter, epicentre
• hypocenter, hypocentre

Origin

• From ground + zero, first attested in a June 1946 a report by the United States Strategic Bombing Survey on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on August 6 and 9, 1945, during World War II. “Zero” was used as the code name for the location of the Trinity atomic bomb test – the first detonation of a nuclear weapon – in New Mexico, USA, on July 16, 1945.