Advertisement
Advertisement
center
[ sen-ter ]
noun
- Geometry. the middle point, as the point within a circle or sphere equally distant from all points of the circumference or surface, or the point within a regular polygon equally distant from the vertices.
Antonyms:
- a point, pivot, axis, etc., around which anything rotates or revolves:
The sun is the center of the solar system.
- the source of an influence, action, force, etc.:
the center of a problem.
- a point, place, person, etc., upon which interest, emotion, etc., focuses:
His family is the center of his life.
- a principal point, place, or object:
a shipping center.
- a building or part of a building used as a meeting place for a particular group or having facilities for certain activities:
a youth center; The company has a complete recreation center in the basement.
- an office or other facility providing a specific service or dealing with a particular emergency:
a flood-relief center; a crisis center.
- a person, thing, group, etc., occupying the middle position, especially a body of troops.
- the core or middle of anything:
chocolate candies with fruit centers.
- a store or establishment devoted to a particular subject or hobby, carrying supplies, materials, tools, and books as well as offering guidance and advice:
a garden center; a nutrition center.
- (usually initial capital letter) Government.
- the part of a legislative assembly, especially in continental Europe, that sits in the center of the chamber, a position customarily assigned to members of the legislature who hold political views intermediate between those of the Right and Left.
- the members of such an assembly who sit in the Center.
- the political position of persons who hold moderate views.
- politically moderate persons, taken collectively; Centrists; middle-of-the-roaders:
Unfortunately, his homeland has always lacked a responsible Center.
- Football.
- a lineman who occupies a position in the middle of the line and who puts the ball into play by tossing it between his legs to a back.
- the position played by this lineman.
- Basketball.
- a player who participates in a center jump.
- the position of the player in the center of the court, where the center jump takes place at the beginning of play.
- Ice Hockey. a player who participates in a face-off at the beginning of play.
- Baseball. center field.
- Physiology. a cluster of nerve cells governing a specific organic process:
the vasomotor center.
- Mathematics.
- the mean position of a figure or system.
- the set of elements of a group that commute with every element of the group.
- Machinery.
- a tapered rod, mounted in the headstock spindle live center or the tailstock spindle dead center of a lathe, upon which the work to be turned is placed.
- one of two similar points on some other machine, as a planing machine, enabling an object to be turned on its axis.
- a tapered indentation, in a piece to be turned on a lathe, into which a center is fitted.
verb (used with object)
- to place in or on a center:
She centered the clock on the mantelpiece.
- to collect to or around a center; focus:
He centered his novel on the Civil War.
- to determine or mark the center of:
A small brass star centered the tabletop.
- to adjust, shape, or modify (an object, part, etc.) so that its axis or the like is in a central or normal position:
to center the lens of a telescope; to center the work on a lathe.
- to place (an object, part, etc.) so as to be equidistant from all bordering or adjacent areas.
- Football. snap ( def 22 ).
- to pass (a basketball, hockey puck, etc.) from any place along the periphery toward the middle of the playing area.
verb (used without object)
- to be at or come to a center.
- to come to a focus; converge; concentrate (followed by at, about, around, in, or on ):
The interest of the book centers specifically on the character of the eccentric hero. Political power in the town centers in the position of mayor.
- to gather or accumulate in a cluster; collect (followed by at, about, around, in, or on ):
Shops and municipal buildings center around the city square.
center
/ ˈɛԳə /
noun
- the US spelling of centre
Usage Note
Other Word Forms
- t·· adjective
- t· adjective
- p·t noun
Word History and Origins
Origin of center1
Idioms and Phrases
- on center, from the centerline or midpoint of a structural member, an area of a plan, etc., to that of a similar member, area, etc.: : o.c.
The studs are set 30 inches on center.
More idioms and phrases containing center
In addition to the idiom beginning with center , also see front and center .Synonym Study
Example Sentences
Afterward Edmonton’s ICE District, a town square centered around the hockey arena, continued buzzing until well after midnight.
The Lakers knew this could be a problem, which is why they had a deal in place to acquire center Mark Williams for the Charlotte Hornets before the trade deadline.
Freeman hit Skenes’ only mistake of the day — a hanging curveball over the center of the plate — into the right field corner for a double in the fourth inning.
Kempe started the rally late in the first period, deflecting a left-handed shot off Pickard from the center of the right circle with the teams skating four on four.
The filing decision comes a year after university campuses became center stage for tense debates over the war in Gaza that broke out after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct.
Advertisement
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse