| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| neutral |
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| SYLLABICATION: | neu·tral |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  n  tr l, ny- |
| ADJECTIVE: | 1. Not aligned with, supporting, or favoring either side in a war, dispute, or contest. 2. Belonging to neither side in a controversy: on neutral ground. 3. Belonging to neither kind; not one thing or the other. 4. Sexless; neuter. 5. Chemistry a. Of or relating to a solution or compound that is neither acidic nor alkaline. b. Of or relating to a compound that does not ionize in solution. 6. Physics a. Of or relating to a particle, an object, or a system that has neither positive nor negative electric charge. b. Of or relating to a particle, object, or system that has a net electric charge of zero. 7. Of or indicating a color, such as gray, black, or white, that lacks hue; achromatic. 8. Linguistics Pronounced with the tongue in a middle position, neither high nor low, as the a in around. | | NOUN: | 1a. A nation nonaligned with either side in a war. b. A citizen of such a nation. 2. One who takes no side in a controversy: “I am by disposition one of life's neutrals, a human Switzerland” (John Gregory Dunne). 3. A neutral hue. 4. A position in which a set of gears is disengaged so that power cannot be transmitted. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English neuteral, from Old French neutral, from Latin neutr lis, grammatically neuter, from neuter, neutr-. See neuter. | | OTHER FORMS: | neutral·ly —ADVERB
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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