All 6 Uses of

neutral
in
Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

Her back hurt so bad it felt as though that old car had run her over, rather than sat in neutral while she and Iko pushed and pulled it through the back roads.
p. 143.6 *

neutral = a state with gears unengaged

Cinder allowed one overwhelming cry of relief, then jammed her foot into the clutch and pulled the transmission out of neutral, reciting the instructions she'd downloaded a week ago and had been studying ever since.
p. 326.5

neutral = a state with gears unengaged

"Are you the letumosis victim?" one asked in a neutral voice, holding up an ID scanner.†
p. 54.7

Kai tried his best to remain neutral under her accusation, but he couldn't keep a twitch from developing above his right eye.†
p. 208.3

His lips were neutral, his gaze reserved as he stood on the dais and the applause of the crowd surged around him.†
p. 310.1 *

Definitions:

(1) (neutral as in: played at a neutral site)
not favoring any side in a contest, war, disagreement, or other dispute
(2) (neutral as in: a carbon-neutral building)
not affected by; or does not affect
The expression [x] neutral means two things do not affect each other. More specifically, it means one of two things depending upon context:
- something is not affected by x -- for example "a revenue neutral tax plan" does not affect the amount of revenue collected. (It might raise taxes in one area and reduce them in another so that the total tax revenue is unchanged.)
- something does not affect x -- for example "a carbon neutral home" is a home that does not affect carbon. Part of its design might include using solar energy to control climate rather than burning fossil fuels.
(3) (neutral as in: decorated in neutral colors)
bland (not striking in appearance or impression)
(4) (neutral as in: Put the car in neutral.)
gears are not engaged; or (metaphorically) nothing is happening
(5) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
meaning too rare to warrant focus:

Specialized senses typically mean that something does not belong to either of two other opposite alternatives; such as:
- chemistry: not acidic or alkaline
- physics: not with a positive charge or with a negative charge
- electric circuitry: with no voltage or electrical charge (though that is an informal simplification that would be dangerous if assumed in fact)