In mathematical logic, a ground term of a formal system is a term that does not contain any free variables.
Similarly, a ground formula is a formula that does not contain any free variables. In first-order logic with identity, the sentence x (x=x) is a ground formula.
A ground expression is a ground term or ground formula.
Consider the following expressions from first order logic over a signature containing a constant symbol 0 for the number 0, a unary function symbol s for the successor function and a binary function symbol + for addition.
What follows is a formal definition for first-order languages. Let a first-order language be given, with the set of constant symbols, the set of (individual) variables, the set of functional operators, and the set of predicate symbols.