"on the ground" meaning in All languages combined

See on the ground on Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase [English]

  1. In an area (location) of interest or active operations, versus outside that area (and especially, far away from it). Synonyms: in the field, on the spot, on location, in situ
    Sense id: en-on_the_ground-en-prep_phrase-en:in_a_location_of_interest Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 47 47 5 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 47 51 2 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 47 51 2
  2. In the daily life of the general public, or at least in that of some group of people who aren't out-of-touch elites. Synonyms: on the street, in the streets, in reality, real world
    Sense id: en-on_the_ground-en-prep_phrase-en:in_the_daily_life_of_people_who_are_not_out_of_touch Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English links with manual fragments, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 47 47 5 Disambiguation of English links with manual fragments: 30 55 15 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 47 51 2 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 47 51 2
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see on, the, ground. Derived forms: boots on the ground, eyes on the ground, facts on the ground, feet on the ground Related terms: grounded, grounding, ground truth, on solid ground, well-grounded, foundation, founding, well-founded
    Sense id: en-on_the_ground-en-prep_phrase-en:literal
{
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "47 47 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 51 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 51 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              57,
              70
            ]
          ],
          "text": "You might feel differently about this policy if you were on the ground in a war zone.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In an area (location) of interest or active operations, versus outside that area (and especially, far away from it)."
      ],
      "id": "en-on_the_ground-en-prep_phrase-en:in_a_location_of_interest",
      "senseid": [
        "en:in a location of interest"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "in the field"
        },
        {
          "word": "on the spot"
        },
        {
          "word": "on location"
        },
        {
          "word": "in situ"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "47 47 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "30 55 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with manual fragments",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 51 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 51 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: on the street, in the streets, in reality, in the real world"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              76,
              89
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Evidently, senior management has no idea how things get done by those of us on the ground.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              68,
              81
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2023 July 15, Brooks Barnes, quoting Fran Drescher, “In Hollywood, the Strikes Are Just Part of the Problem”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "“It’s so obvious that he has no clue as to what is really happening on the ground,” she added.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In the daily life of the general public, or at least in that of some group of people who aren't out-of-touch elites."
      ],
      "id": "en-on_the_ground-en-prep_phrase-en:in_the_daily_life_of_people_who_are_not_out_of_touch",
      "links": [
        [
          "daily life",
          "daily life"
        ],
        [
          "general public",
          "general public"
        ],
        [
          "out-of-touch",
          "out of touch"
        ]
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:in the daily life of people who are not out of touch"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "on the street"
        },
        {
          "word": "in the streets"
        },
        {
          "word": "in reality"
        },
        {
          "word": "real world"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "4 14 82",
          "word": "boots on the ground"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 14 82",
          "word": "eyes on the ground"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 14 82",
          "word": "facts on the ground"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 14 82",
          "word": "feet on the ground"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              66,
              79
            ]
          ],
          "text": "I'm still surprised that I found a hundred-dollar bill just lying on the ground.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see on, the, ground."
      ],
      "id": "en-on_the_ground-en-prep_phrase-en:literal",
      "links": [
        [
          "on",
          "on#English"
        ],
        [
          "the",
          "the#English"
        ],
        [
          "ground",
          "ground#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "4 14 82",
          "word": "grounded"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 14 82",
          "word": "grounding"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 14 82",
          "word": "ground truth"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 14 82",
          "word": "on solid ground"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 14 82",
          "word": "well-grounded"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 14 82",
          "word": "foundation"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 14 82",
          "word": "founding"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 14 82",
          "word": "well-founded"
        }
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:literal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "on the ground"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English links with manual fragments",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English prepositional phrases",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "boots on the ground"
    },
    {
      "word": "eyes on the ground"
    },
    {
      "word": "facts on the ground"
    },
    {
      "word": "feet on the ground"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "grounded"
    },
    {
      "word": "grounding"
    },
    {
      "word": "ground truth"
    },
    {
      "word": "on solid ground"
    },
    {
      "word": "well-grounded"
    },
    {
      "word": "foundation"
    },
    {
      "word": "founding"
    },
    {
      "word": "well-founded"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              57,
              70
            ]
          ],
          "text": "You might feel differently about this policy if you were on the ground in a war zone.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In an area (location) of interest or active operations, versus outside that area (and especially, far away from it)."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:in a location of interest"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "in the field"
        },
        {
          "word": "on the spot"
        },
        {
          "word": "on location"
        },
        {
          "word": "in situ"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: on the street, in the streets, in reality, in the real world"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              76,
              89
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Evidently, senior management has no idea how things get done by those of us on the ground.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              68,
              81
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2023 July 15, Brooks Barnes, quoting Fran Drescher, “In Hollywood, the Strikes Are Just Part of the Problem”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "“It’s so obvious that he has no clue as to what is really happening on the ground,” she added.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In the daily life of the general public, or at least in that of some group of people who aren't out-of-touch elites."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "daily life",
          "daily life"
        ],
        [
          "general public",
          "general public"
        ],
        [
          "out-of-touch",
          "out of touch"
        ]
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:in the daily life of people who are not out of touch"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "on the street"
        },
        {
          "word": "in the streets"
        },
        {
          "word": "in reality"
        },
        {
          "word": "real world"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              66,
              79
            ]
          ],
          "text": "I'm still surprised that I found a hundred-dollar bill just lying on the ground.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see on, the, ground."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "on",
          "on#English"
        ],
        [
          "the",
          "the#English"
        ],
        [
          "ground",
          "ground#English"
        ]
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:literal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "on the ground"
}

Download raw JSONL data for on the ground meaning in All languages combined (2.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-10-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.