grey area
An area intermediate between two mutually exclusive states or categories, where the border between the two is fuzzy or ill-defined.
It exists in a grey area between legal and illegal.
area
UK /ˈɛə.ɹɪ.ə/ US /ˈɛə.ɹɪ.ə/
noun 5
Definitions
noun
1
A measure of the extent of a surface; it is measured in square units.
It is about 4.5 million square kilometers in area and holds the world’s third largest collection of ice after Antarctica and Greenland.
2
A particular geographic region.
Eggimann used a computer algorithm to analyze data from the open-source geographic database OpenStreetMap and automatically detect areas with the superblock potential. He applied this analysis to 5 km x 5 km areas of the city center in 18 different cities around the world.
3
Any particular extent of surface, especially an empty or unused extent.
The photo is a little dark in that area.
4
The extent, scope, or range of an object or concept.
The plans are a bit vague in that area.
Today, a new area of research that similarly aims to mimic a complex biological phenomenon—life itself—is taking off. Synthetic biology, a seductive experimental subfield in the life sciences, seems tantalizingly to promise custom-designed life created in the laboratory.
5
An open space, below ground level, giving access to the basement of a house, and typically separated from the pavement by railings.
A boy seized it, whom she bribed with a shilling to relinquish his prize, which she was taking home, when it escaped from her hand, and fell down the area of a house.
This was so favourably received by the milkman and beadle that he would immediately have been pushed into the area if I had not held his pinafore while Richard and Mr. Guppy ran down through the kitchen to catch him when he should be released.
Your note
not saved0 chars