buffer zone

noun

: a neutral area separating conflicting forces

broadly : an area designed to separate

Examples of buffer zone in a Sentence

There must be a 500-foot buffer zone between the river and the new buildings.

Recent Examples on the Web

In 2014, the high court unanimously struck down a Massachusetts law that established a 35-foot buffer zone around medical facilities where abortions are performed. —Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 24 Feb. 2025

The court declined to hear challenges to a law in southern Illinois and to a 2014 ordinance in Englewood, New Jersey, that created a protest-free buffer zone around certain health care facilities. —Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY, 24 Feb. 2025

Hezbollah militants must pull back to the north of the Litani River, and the Lebanese armed forces would patrol the buffer zone in southern Lebanon alongside U.N. peacekeepers. —Astha Rajvanshi, NBC News, 25 Jan. 2025

Israeli forces should pull back into a buffer zone inside Gaza, and many displaced Palestinians should be able to return home. —Wafaa Shurafa, Los Angeles Times, 19 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1908, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for buffer zone

• acetone
• anglophone
• baritone
• bourguignon
• buspirone
• chaperon
• chaperone
• cobblestone
• collarbone
• cornerstone
• cortisone
• dictaphone

Legal Definition

buffer zone

noun

: an area designed to separate: as

a

: an area with certain boundaries beyond which protestors may not pass

b

: an area separating land used for different purposes

a buffer zone between the development and the park