Adjacent Words

Neutrality definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

NEUTRALITY, n.
1. The state of being unengaged in disputes or contests between others; the state of taking no part on either side. States often arm to maintain their neutrality.
2. A state of indifference in feeling or principle.
3. Indifference in quality; a state neither very good nor evil. [Little used.]
4. A combination of neutral powers or states; as the armed neutrality.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: nonparticipation in a dispute or war
2: tolerance attributable to a lack of involvement [syn: disinterest, neutrality]
3: pH value of 7

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 15th century the quality or state of being neutral; especially refusal to take part in a war between other powers

U.S. Military Dictionary

In international law, the attitude of impartiality during periods of war adopted by third states toward a belligerent and subsequently recognized by the belligerent, which creates rights and duties between the impartial states and the belligerent. In a United Nations enforcement action, the rules of neutrality apply to impartial members of the United Nations except so far as they are excluded by the obligation of such members under the United Nations Charter.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Neutrality Neu*tral"i*ty, n. [Cf. F. neutralit['e].] 1. The state or quality of being neutral; the condition of being unengaged in contests between others; state of taking no part on either side; indifference. Men who possess a state of neutrality in times of public danger, desert the interest of their fellow subjects. --Addison. 2. Indifference in quality; a state neither very good nor bad. [Obs.] --Donne. 3. (Chem.) The quality or state of being neutral. See Neutral, a., 4. 4. (International Law) The condition of a nation or government which refrains from taking part, directly or indirectly, in a war between other powers. 5. Those who are neutral; a combination of neutral powers or states. Armed neutrality, the condition of a neutral power, in time of war, which holds itself ready to resist by force any aggression of either belligerent.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

see neutral

Moby Thesaurus

Laodiceanism, Olympian detachment, a wise passiveness, abnegation, abstinence, avoidance, avoiding reaction, calm, calmness, chill, chilliness, circumvention, coldness, conservatism, constraint, contemplation, contemplative life, continence, control, cool, coolness, defense mechanism, detachment, disinterest, disinterestedness, dispassion, dispassionateness, do-nothing policy, do-nothingism, do-nothingness, dodge, dormancy, duck, elusion, elusiveness, equitability, equivocation, escape, evasion, evasive action, evasiveness, evenhandedness, evenness, fairness, fervorlessness, forbearance, forestalling, forestallment, frostiness, gentleness, getting around, golden mean, halfheartedness, happy medium, iciness, idleness, immobility, impartiality, inaction, inactivity, indifference, indifferentism, indifferentness, indolence, inertia, inertness, insipidity, jink, judiciousness, juste-milieu, justness, laissez-aller, laissez-faire, laissez-faireism, lenity, loftiness, lukewarmness, meden agan, meditation, middle way, mildness, moderateness, moderation, moderationism, neuterness, neutralism, neutralness, nonintervention, noninvolvement, nonparticipation, nonresistance, nonviolence, nonviolent resistance, nothing in excess, objectivity, pacifism, paralysis, passive resistance, passive self-annihilation, passiveness, passivism, passivity, perfunctoriness, policy, prevention, procrastination, prudence, quiescence, quietism, refraining, repose, restraint, self-abnegation, self-control, self-denial, self-restraint, selflessness, serenity, shunning, shunting off, shy, sidestep, sidetracking, slip, sobriety, stability, stagnancy, stagnation, standpattism, stasis, steadiness, temperance, temperateness, tepidness, the runaround, tranquillity, unbias, unbiasedness, unexcessiveness, unextravagance, unextremeness, unopinionatedness, unprejudicedness, unselfishness, vapidity, vegetation, via media, vita contemplativa, waiting game, watching and waiting, zeallessness, zigzag