This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity. Sex education is forbidden ground in some school curricula. Lead white is a traditional ground for ground turkey recipes paintings.

The quarterback was grounded by a knee injury. I can’t go to the party—my parents have grounded me until my grades improve. WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS? Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up.

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift. He talked for two hours without covering much ground. It didn’t require much effort to cut the ground from under that case. She learned the business from the ground up. The professor knew his subject from the ground up. The case for air-pollution control is gaining ground throughout the country. The disarmament talks reached an impasse when neither side would give ground on inspection proposals.

The referee stood his ground, though his decision was hotly contested by the crowd. You’ve stated your case, and you needn’t run it into the ground. Our candidate is losing ground in industrial areas. The play never got off the ground. Minutes after the bank robbery reporters were on the ground to get the story. This climate suits me down to the ground. Rather than take the witness stand, she went to ground in another country.

I land with an inordinately loud thud. Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. A connection between an electrical conductor and the Earth. Grounds are used to establish a common zero-voltage reference for electric devices in order to prevent potentially dangerous voltages from arising between them and other objects. The set of shared points in an electrical circuit at which the measured voltage is taken to be zero. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

In electrical engineering, ground or earth is a reference point in an electrical circuit from which voltages are measured, a common return path for electric current, or a direct physical connection to the Earth. Electrical circuits may be connected to ground for several reasons. Exposed conductive parts of electrical equipment are connected to ground, to protect users from electrical shock hazard. If internal insulation fails, dangerous voltages may appear on the exposed conductive parts. Connection to ground also limits the build-up of static electricity when handling flammable products or electrostatic-sensitive devices. An electrical ground system should have an appropriate current-carrying capability to serve as an adequate zero-voltage reference level.

Long-distance electromagnetic telegraph systems from 1820 onwards used two or more wires to carry the signal and return currents. In the late nineteenth century, when telephony began to replace telegraphy, it was found that the currents in the earth induced by power systems, electric railways, other telephone and telegraph circuits, and natural sources including lightning caused unacceptable interference to the audio signals, and the two-wire or ‘metallic circuit’ system was reintroduced around 1883. Electrical power distribution systems are often connected to earth ground to limit the voltage that can appear on distribution circuits. A distribution system insulated from earth ground may attain a high potential due to transient voltages caused by static electricity or accidental contact with higher potential circuits.