zero-base, adj.

zero-base
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zero-base_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zero-baseadjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zero-base mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zero-base. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the adjective zero-base?

About 0.03occurrences per million words in modern written English

1960 | 0.039
1970 | 0.034
1980 | 0.03
1990 | 0.03
2000 | 0.036
2010 | 0.025

### Where does the adjective zero-base come from?

Earliest known use

1960s

The earliest known use of the adjective zero-base is in the 1960s.

OED's earliest evidence for zero-base is from 1962, in Annual Rep. Joint Financial Management Improvem. Program.

### Nearby entries

1. Zeppelinite, n. 1909–
2. zeppole, n. 1835–
3. zepto-, comb. form
4. zeranol, n. 1971–
5. zerda, n. 1780–1860
6. zerk, n. 1926–
7. zero, n. & adj. 1604–
8. zero, v. 1813–
9. zeroable, adj. 1956–
10. zero balance, adj. 1974–
11. zero-base, adj.1962–
12. zero-based, adj. 1963–
13. zero beat, n. 1920–
14. zero-carbon, adj. 1990–
15. zero-coupon, adj. 1979–
16. zero creep, n. 1904–
17. zero crossing, n. 1941–
18. zero day, n. 1917–
19. zero-defect, adj. 1964–
20. zero derivation, n. 1960–
21. zero derivative, adj. & n. 1948–

## Meaning & use

Originally U.S.

1. 1962–
   (Of a budget or budgeting) having each item costed anew, rather than in relation to its size or status in the previous budget; cf. ZBB n.
   1. 1962

      > A revised system of reviewing budgetary needs—‘zero-base’ budgeting..is designed to facilitate a thorough analysis of the Department's total work program, produce a realistic appraisal of..work priorities, and result in the most effective use of personnel and other resources.

      Annual Rep. Joint Financial Management Improvem. Program ii. 23
   2. 1981

      > There is nothing wrong with sunset or zero-base budgeting laws, except that they don't work.

      R. Freeman, Wayward Welfare State (1982) iii. 162
   3. 2014

      > The incrementalism relating to the city department budgets should be replaced by a zero base budget.

      Brampton (Ontario) Guardian (Nexis) 19 September 1
   accounting U.S. English
   1. zero-base 1962–
      (Of a budget or budgeting) having each item costed anew, rather than in relation to its size or status in the previous budget; cf. ZBB, n.
   2. zero-based 1963–
      (Of a budget or budgeting) having each item costed anew, rather than in relation to its size or status in the previous budget; cf. ZBB, n.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zero-base typically occurs about 0.03 times per million words in modern written English.

zero-base is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zero-base, adj., 1960–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1960 | 0.039
1970 | 0.034
1980 | 0.03
1990 | 0.03
2000 | 0.036
2010 | 0.025

Originally published as part of the entry for zero, n. & adj.

zero, n. & adj. was revised in June 2018.