neutrality

Etymology

From Middle French neutralité, from Medieval Latin neutralitas. Morphologically neutral + -ity

noun

1. The state or quality of being neutral; the condition of being unengaged in contests between others; state of taking no part on either side.
   And what happineſs is there in a ſtorm of paſſions? On this account the Scepticks affected an indifferent æquipondious neutrality as the only means to their Ataraxia, and freedom from paßionate diſturbances. 1665, Joseph Glanvill, chapter XXVII, in Scepsis Scientifica: Or, Confest Ignorance, the Way to Science; in an Essay of the Vanity of Dogmatizing, and Confident Opinion with a Reply to the Exceptions of the Learned Thomas Albius, London: E. Cotes, page 168
   Men who possess a state of neutrality in times of public danger, desert the interest of their fellow subjects. 1709, Joseph Addison, The Tatler
   The official pretence of a scrupulous solicitude to maintain neutrality is flagrantly insincere. 14 June 1856, “England and America”, in The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science, and Art, volume 2, number 33, London: John W. Parker and Son, page 141
2. (obsolete) Indifference in quality; a state neither very good nor bad.
   There is no health; physicians say that we At best enjoy but a neutrality. 1611, John Donne, An Anatomy of the World
3. (chemistry): The quality or state of being neutral.
4. (international law) The condition of a nation or government which refrains from taking part, directly or indirectly, in a war between other powers.
5. Those who are neutral; a combination of neutral powers or states.