zero

Used to describe a software security vulnerability that has just been exploited or discovered, often before the software developers can formally announce or create a fix (thus giving them "zero days" to preemptively address the issue). It was a 0-day attack—the developers had no idea that their program could be hacked in that way.

To change an outcome, one's situation, or oneself from being particularly unsuccessful, negative, unfortunate, or unpopular to being especially successful, positive, fortunate, or popular. After his parents won the lottery, John went from zero to hero in his high school overnight. With computer programming becoming an increasingly in-demand skill, many who might have been picked on in high school are now going from zeros to heroes.

A non-specific time in the early morning before the sun has risen. Based on the way in which military time is said aloud. Why on earth are we meeting at zero dark thirty? The only thing we should be doing at this hour is sleeping! We'll have to leave at zero dark thirty if we want to reach Las Cruces before sundown.

rude slang A phrase used to emphasize that one does not care about something at all. Based on the phrase "not give a fuck." When I graded that last batch of papers for the year, there were definitely zero fucks given. I'm already in summer mode.

The time at which something starts. I have so much studying left to do before the exam, and zero hour is 8 AM! Zero hour for our vacation is 4:30—the minute we're all done work!

A policy or attitude of accepting absolutely none of some kind of behavior or activity. A reference to laws or legal policies that impose severe penalties for even the most minor infractions. Can be hyphenated if used before a noun as a modifier. Our dad has always had zero tolerance for us skipping our chores or homework. The boss is implementing a zero-tolerance policy for anyone caught taking office supplies home with them.

A situation, process, competition, or outcome in which the winner's gain is exactly equal to the loser's loss. Poker is a zero-sum game because the amount of money won by one player is equivalent to the amount lost by the other players.

to aim directly at someone or something. The television camera zeroed in on the little boy scratching his head. The commercial zeroed in on the glass of cola. Mary is very good about zeroing in on the most important and helpful ideas.

absolutely no toleration of even the smallest infraction of a rule. Because of the zero tolerance rule, the kindergartner was expelled from school because his mother accidentally left a table knife in his lunch box.

If a situation is a zero-sum game, the advantage that one person gains from it must have an equal disadvantage for someone else. The idea that foreign investment is a zero-sum game — that one country's gain is another's loss — is mistaken. Note: Other nouns are sometimes used instead of game. According to Reed, employee benefits are a zero-sum gain. If costs for one benefit rise, it's often at the expense of another, such as paid vacation and health insurance. Note: A zero-sum game is one in which the winnings and losses of all the players add up to zero.

The site of any disaster; specifically, and often capitalized (Ground Zero), the site of New York’s World Trade Center, wrecked by airplanes on September 11, 2001. Originally the term designated the central point of a nuclear detonation or similar large blast, but since the attacks of 2001, often referred to simply as nine-eleven, it has been used both specifically and metaphorically. It was first used with reference to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and then was extended to other disasters, such as earthquakes. Referring to the economic downturn, a character in Ian Rankin’s novel The Complaints (2009) asked, “Does nobody realize this is Credit Crunch Ground Zero?”