zero tolerance, n.

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

# zero tolerancenoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zero tolerance mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun zero tolerance. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zero tolerance?

About 0.2occurrences per million words in modern written English

1940 | 0.0058
1950 | 0.011
1960 | 0.012
1970 | 0.03
1980 | 0.11
1990 | 0.2
2000 | 0.24
2010 | 0.31

### How is the noun zero tolerance pronounced?

#### British English

/ˌzɪərəʊ ˈtɒl(ə)r(ə)n(t)s/
zeer-oh TOL-uh-ruhns

#### U.S. English

/ˌzɪroʊ ˈtɑl(ə)rən(t)s/
zeer-oh TAHL-uh-ruhns
/ˌziroʊ ˈtɑl(ə)rən(t)s/
zeer-oh TAHL-uh-ruhns

### Where does the noun zero tolerance come from?

Earliest known use

1940s

The earliest known use of the noun zero tolerance is in the 1940s.

OED's earliest evidence for zero tolerance is from 1940, in Lawrence (Kansas) Daily Jrnl.-World.

zero tolerance is formed within English, by compounding.

Etymons: zero adj., tolerance n.

### Nearby entries

1. zero population growth, n. 1955–
2. zero post, n. 1908–
3. zero-power, adj. 1950–
4. zero-rate, v. 1972–
5. zero-rated, adj. 1972–
6. zero rating, n. 1971–
7. zero sound, n. 1957–
8. zero-sum, adj. 1944–
9. zeroth, adj. 1850–
10. zero tillage, n. 1963–
11. zero tolerance, n.1940–
12. zerovalent, adj. 1906–
13. zero waste, adj. & n. 1974–
14. zero-zero, adj. & n. 1930–
15. zerumbet, n. 1640–
16. zest, n.¹ 1674–
17. zest, n.² 1706
18. zest, v. 1702–
19. zest, int. 1705–22
20. zester, n. 1963–
21. zestful, adj. 1797–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by compounding.
< zero adj. + tolerance n.

## Meaning & use

Originally U.S.

1. 1.
   1940–
   Complete lack of tolerance for something; a stated policy of non-acceptance with regard to a specified situation, activity, substance, etc.
   1. 1940

      > Northern states have set ‘zero tolerance’ as the goal for certified seed potatoes which are as free of the disease as in humanly possible.

      Lawrence (Kansas) Daily Jrnl.-World 14 February 1/8
   2. 1963

      > Heptachlor..is even more toxic and has been given a ‘zero tolerance’ by the FDA; that is, not even the slightest trace of heptachlor is permitted on food.

      Popular Mechanics June 87/1
   3. 1972

      > Federal officials..say the calculations..were based on ‘assuming zero tolerance’ from now on for ineligibility and overpayments.

      New York Times 6 December 22/1
   4. 1993

      > It can establish a zero tolerance that means none of the chemical is permitted in any crop.

      R. L. Zimdahl, Fundamentals of Weed Science xviii. 369
   5. 2001

      > It measures its performance on zero tolerance of cancellations, but allows trains to run four hours late.

      Modern Railways February 14/2
   U.S. English
2. 2.
   1972–
   spec. Complete lack of tolerance for, or non-acceptance of, abusive, anti-social, or criminal behaviour, esp. the use of illegal drugs, typically enforced by strict and uncompromising application of the law; a stated policy of this kind, designed to eliminate such behaviour.
   1. 1972

      > We need strong leadership from young officers and so we have zero tolerance for pot here.

      El Paso (Texas) Herald-Post 13 June d1/4
   2. 1981

      > There is what is called a ‘zero tolerance’ for any form of drug use among nuclear sub crewmen.

      Associated Press Newswire (Nexis) 14 July
   3. 1988

      > The Reagan administration calls its new drug policy ‘zero tolerance’, meaning that planes, vehicles and vessels may be confiscated for carrying even the smallest amount of a controlled substance.

      Time Australia (Sydney) 23 May 49/2
   4. 1993

      > Ms. Campbell said that her government will show ‘zero tolerance’ of violence against women.

      Globe & Mail (Toronto) 31 August a4/1
   5. 2008

      > There are boundaries you cannot cross and one is this country's zero tolerance on knives.

      G. Brown in Times 14 January 5/1
   drug use U.S. English

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˌzɪərəʊ ˈtɒl(ə)r(ə)n(t)s/
zeer-oh TOL-uh-ruhns

### U.S. English

/ˌzɪroʊ ˈtɑl(ə)rən(t)s/
zeer-oh TAHL-uh-ruhns
/ˌziroʊ ˈtɑl(ə)rən(t)s/
zeer-oh TAHL-uh-ruhns

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

##### Consonants

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige

##### Vowels

- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot

## Frequency

zero tolerance typically occurs about 0.2 times per million words in modern written English.

zero tolerance is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 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 tolerance, n., 1940–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1940 | 0.0058
1950 | 0.011
1960 | 0.012
1970 | 0.03
1980 | 0.11
1990 | 0.2
2000 | 0.24
2010 | 0.31

### Frequency of zero tolerance, n., 2017–2024

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.

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 corpus.

Period | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
2017 | 3.4
2018 | 3.1
2019 | 3.0
2020 | 2.2
2021 | 2.0
2022 | 2.1
2023 | 1.9
2024 | 1.9

## Compounds & derived words

1. 1960–
   General attributive, as zero-tolerance approach, zero-tolerance policy, etc.
   1. 1960

      > The federal government stepped up the enforcement of the ‘zero tolerance’ rule for antibiotics.

      Adams County (Iowa) Free Press 4 February 4/3
   2. 1986

      > A proposed new Drug-Free School Act, or ‘the Zero-Tolerance Act’.

      Associated Press Newswire (Nexis) 15 September
   3. 1997

      > The Labour leader pledged his support for ‘zero tolerance’ schemes pioneered in New York..in which the police target even the most minor criminal behaviour.

      Daily Telegraph 7 January 1/2
   4. 2009

      > The city's zero-tolerance policy towards petty crime has long eradicated painted graffiti from the trains.

      Guardian 5 February 25/4
   U.S. English

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

zero tolerance, n. was revised in June 2018.

zero tolerance, n. was last modified in December 2024.