red-zone

verb

To categorize as too damaged to repair, and requiring the owners to vacate (a property).

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Meanings

verbred-zone (third-person singular simple present red-zones, present participle red-zoning, simple past and past participle red-zoned)

present singular third person red-zones · participle present red-zoning · participle past red-zoned · past red-zoned

  1. New ZealandTo categorize as too damaged to repair, and requiring the owners to vacate (a property).

    His house in the Loop was red-zoned.

    2017, Gerald Murnane Fiona Farrell, Decline and Fall on Savage Street, →ISBN, page 336
    2 more examples

    And in the event their land is red-zoned, at least they know they will ultimately get a new house under their AMI insurance policy.

    2013, Rebecca Macfie, Report from Christchurch, page 26

    As a result of severe and recurrent liquefaction damage, and the infeasibility of timely and effective land repair, more than 7000 residential properties in Christchurch were red-zoned (designated as currently uneconomic to repair) and purchased by central government at a cost exceeding NZ$1.6 billion.

    2016, James Goff, C. R. de Freitas, Natural Hazards in Australasia, page 133

Origin

From the system of classifying areas of Christchurch, New Zealand as red zone (irreparable), green zone (reparable), or orange zone (more investigation needed) after the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

red-zone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/red-zone

MLA

“red-zone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/red-zone. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “red-zone,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/red-zone.

Source: red-zone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.