no-man's-land

\\ˈ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷\ noun

Etymology: no man's (gen. of no man) + land

1.

a. : an area of unowned, unclaimed, or uninhabited land

a no-man's-land of bottomlands and islands aggregating up to forty square miles — N.Y.Times

many metropolitan areas will become a kind of no-man's-land should they become heavily contaminated — R.E.Lapp

staring down into a no-man's-land where once had stood busy streets — S.P.B.Mais

b. : a belt of ground between the most advanced elements of opposing armies : an area in a theater of operations not controlled by either side

2. : an area of anomalous, ambiguous, or indefinite character

lived in a no-man's-land between slavery and freedom — World

the no-man's-land between political theory, theology, and political history — Richard Mayne

the no-man's-land that was neither wholly good nor wholly evil — Nigel Dennis

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/ˈnoʊˌmænzˌlænd/ noun [singular]

: an area of land between two countries or armies that is not controlled by anyone

— often used figuratively

His music lies in the no-man's-land between jazz and rock.

The downtown area was a no-man's-land of abandoned buildings and decay.

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ˈno-man's-land noun uncountable, singular

an area of land between the borders of two countries or between two armies, that is not controlled by either

 

Word Origin:

[no-man's-land] Middle English: originally the name of a plot of ground lying outside the north wall of the city of London, the site of a place of execution.