{
    "term": "neutral",
    "partOfSpeech": "adjective",
    "academic": true,
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "b2",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "not supporting or helping either side in a disagreement, competition, etc.",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Journalists are supposed to be politically neutral."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I didn't take my father's or my mother's side; I tried to **remain neutral**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Our actions are never culturally neutral."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The government maintained its strictly neutral policy."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The meeting must be at a politically neutral location."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I'm neutral about this issue."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Very few journalists are politically neutral."
                },
                {
                    "text": "When my parents split up I tried to remain neutral."
                }
            ],
            "synonyms": "impartial, unbiased",
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "remain", "stay"],
                "adverb": ["strictly", "completely", "broadly"],
                "preposition": ["about"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "not belonging to any of the countries that are involved in a war; not supporting any of the countries involved in a war",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "**neutral territory/waters**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Switzerland was neutral during the war."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The Americans took a broadly neutral position."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The UN are sending six neutral observers to the talks."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["War and conflict"],
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "remain", "stay"],
                "adverb": ["strictly", "completely", "broadly"],
                "preposition": ["about"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "deliberately not expressing any strong feeling",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "‘So you told her?’ he said in a neutral tone of voice."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Dolly kept her voice carefully neutral."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Her expression seemed neutral."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "seem", "remain"],
                "adverb": ["perfectly", "fairly", "quite"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 4,
            "definition": "not affected by something",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "He believes that technology is morally neutral until it is applied."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 5,
            "definition": "not very bright or strong, such as grey or light brown",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a neutral colour scheme"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Neutral tones will give the room a feeling of space."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She chose fairly neutral make-up."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Her clothes were neutral in colour."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Colours and Shapes"]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 6,
            "definition": "neither acid nor alkaline",
            "examples": []
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 7,
            "definition": "having neither a positive nor a negative electrical charge",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "the neutral wire in a plug"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "in a place that has no connection with either of the people or sides who are meeting and so does not give an advantage to either of them",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "We decided to meet on neutral ground."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈnjuːtrəl/",
                "audio": "ne/neutral/neutral__gb_2.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈnuːtrəl/",
                "audio": "ne/neutral/neutral__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "late Middle English (as a noun): from Latin neutralis ‘of neuter gender’, from Latin neuter ‘neither’, from ne- ‘not’ + uter ‘either’."
}