Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🛡️ Shock absorber 🛡️ To protect 🌍 Separation area 💾 Temporary storage 🧪 pH stabilizer 🧽 Polishing tool 🧪 To stabilize pH
buffer

buffer

14 5.2
An area of land between two groups to reduce the chance of fighting
  • noun
  • /ˈbʌfər/
: zona de amortiguamiento
  • But Patty Kay wanted a buffer area between the historic houses and commercial development.
  • a buffer zone
  • serve as a buffer
  • a buffer area

And Ukraine is a buffer zone or a buffer nation, and it's rapidly becoming more Westernized.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • For example, encroachments into the buffer zone are a constant theme in partitioned Cyprus.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Troop movements and exercises near the buffer zone are frequent occurrences.

    Academic text (1995)

  • We are living in a buffer zone.

    Beasts of No Nation (2015)

  • You picked a good night to cross through the buffer zone.

    5 Days of War (2011)

  • The "hard" approach makes UN control of the buffer zone the central issue.

    Academic text (1995)

  • But talk of raising water levels and creating buffer zones has local farmers up in arms.

    Academic text (1994)

  • And Ukraine is a buffer zone or a buffer nation, and it's rapidly becoming more Westernized.

    Triggernometry

  • And then this UN buffer zone which locks within its boundaries the airport, along with people's homes, businesses and farms.

  • The Italian Kingdom of Piedmont had been set up as a kind of neutral buffer state so that Austria and France didn't have to share a border.

  • The armistice set up the DMZ as a buffer zone to keep the two sides apart.

Synonyms

buffer zone
vsbuffer
11 4.4

An area between two sides that reduces conflict and harm

is the general name for such separating land areas
buffer state
vsbuffer
1 6.8

A small neutral country between two larger rival countries that reduces the risk of war

is about a separating land area rather than an independent political unit
buffer country
vsbuffer
1 6.8

A small neutral state that lies between two rival powers to reduce conflict

focuses on a physical separating area not necessarily a sovereign entity

Compounds

buffer zone
11 4.4

An area between two sides that reduces conflict and harm

buffer state
1 6.8

A small neutral country between two larger rival countries that reduces the risk of war

frame buffer
  • Specialized
1 5.4

An area of computer memory that stores the picture shown on the screen

buffer solution
  • Specialized
1 4.4

A liquid that keeps acidity about the same when acids or bases are added

buffer storage
  • Specialized
1 5.1

A part of computer memory that temporarily holds data during transfer between devices

buffer store
  • Specialized
1 5.8

A part of a computer's memory that holds data for a short time while it moves between devices

phosphate buffer solution
  • Specialized
1 5.6

A liquid that keeps the acid level steady with phosphate

buffer country
1 6.8

A small neutral state that lies between two rival powers to reduce conflict

bicarbonate buffer solution
  • Specialized
4.5

A liquid that helps keep acidity stable in body and lab tests

keyboard buffer
  • Specialized
4.8

A part of a computer's memory that stores keys you press until the computer reads them

print buffer
  • Specialized
5.6

A part of a computer that holds information waiting to be printed

starting buffer
  • Specialized
5.4

A liquid made at the start of an experiment to keep the pH steady

How Protective

demilitarized zone
  • Formal
11 4.8
buffer
14 5.2
border
∞ 1.0
boundary
54 3.1

Surface Forms

buffer singular
buffers plural

Morphology

buffer = buff (semi-transparent) = buff + er

The geopolitical sense ('area that buffers two powers') is a metaphorical extension of 'to buffer' (to reduce impact), so the relation to the base is clear but somewhat figurative.

Etymology

Buffer originally meant something that takes a hit, from the root buff meaning 'a blow'. A buffer zone is land that stands between two powers and reduces the risk of conflict.