cen·ter (s n t r)n. 1. A point or place that is equally distant from the sides or outer boundaries of something; the middle: the center of a stage. 2. a. A point equidistant from the vertices of a regular polygon. b. A point equidistant from all points on the circumference of a circle or on the surface of a sphere. 3. A point around which something rotates or revolves: The sun is the center of our solar system. 4. A part of an object that is surrounded by the rest; a core: chocolates with soft centers. 5. a. A place where a particular activity or service is concentrated: a medical center. b. A point of origin, as of influence, ideas, or actions: a center of power; a center of unrest. c. An area of dense population: a metropolitan center. 6. A person or thing that is the chief object of attention, interest, activity, or emotion. 7. A person, object, or group occupying a middle position. 8. often Center A political group or a set of policies representing a moderate view between those of the right and the left. 9. Physiology A group of neurons in the central nervous system that control a particular function: the vasomotor center. 10. Sports A player who holds a middle position on the field, court, or forward line in some team sports, such as football and basketball. 11. Baseball Center field. 12. a. A small conical hole made in a piece of work with a center punch so that a drill can be accurately positioned within it. b. A bar with a conical point used to support work, as during turning on a lathe. 13. Architecture A centering. v. cen·tered, cen·ter·ing, cen·ters v.tr. 1. To place in or at the center: centered the vase on the table. 2. To direct toward a center or central point; concentrate or focus: tried to center the discussion on the main issues. 3. Sports a. To pass (a ball or puck) toward the center of a playing area. b. To play as a center on (a line), as in ice hockey. 4. Football To pass (the ball) back between the legs to begin a down. v.intr. 1. To be concentrated; cluster: The epidemic centered in the urban areas. 2. To have a central theme or concern; be focused: Her novels center on the problems of adolescence. 3. Sports To play as a center. [Middle English centre, from Old French, from Latin centrum, from Greek kentron, center of a circle, from kentein, to prick; see kent- in Indo-European roots.] Synonyms: center, focus, headquarters, heart, hub, seat These nouns refer to a region, person, or thing around which some activity is concentrated: a great cultural center; the focus of research efforts; the headquarters of a multinational corporation; a town that is the heart of the colony; the hub of a steel empire; the seat of government. Usage Note: Traditionally, the verb center may be freely used with the prepositions on, upon, in, or at; but some language critics have denounced its use with around as illogical or physically impossible. But the fact that writers persist in using this phrase in sentences such as The discussion centered around the need for curriculum reform, a sentence that 71 percent of the Usage Panel accepts, suggests that many people perceive center around to best represent the true nature of what they are trying to say. Indeed, in an example like A storm of controversy centered around the king, the only appropriate choice seems to be around. Still, if one wishes to avoid the phrase center around, the phrase revolve around is available as an option. Since center can represent various relations involving having, finding, or turning about a center, the choice of a preposition depends on what is intended. There is ample evidence for usages with each preposition listed above. The Panel accepts all of these uses except the one with at. Seventy-seven percent reject the sentence The company has been centered at Atlanta for the last five years. See Usage Note at equal. |
center
Noun, vb
US same as centre
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. |  center - an area that is approximately central within some larger region; "it is in the center of town"; "they ran forward into the heart of the struggle"; "they were in the eye of the storm"area, country - a particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography); "it was a mountainous area"; "Bible country" center stage, centre stage - the central area on a theater stage storm center, storm centre - the central area or place of lowest barometric pressure within a storm financial center - the part of a city where financial institutions are centered hub - a center of activity or interest or commerce or transportation; a focal point around which events revolve; "the playground is the hub of parental supervision"; "the airport is the economic hub of the area" inner city - the older and more populated and (usually) poorer central section of a city medical center - the part of a city where medical facilities are centered midfield - (sports) the middle part of a playing field (as in football or lacrosse) seat - a center of authority (as a city from which authority is exercised) midstream - the middle of a stream |
| 2. | center - the piece of ground in the outfield directly ahead of the catcher; "he hit the ball to deep center" outfield - the area of a baseball playing field beyond the lines connecting the bases | |
| 3. | center - a building dedicated to a particular activity; "they were raising money to build a new center for research" building, edifice - a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place; "there was a three-story building on the corner"; "it was an imposing edifice" burn center - a center where patients with severe burns can be treated call center, call centre - a center equipped to handle a large volume of telephone calls (especially for taking orders or serving customers) civic center, community center - a center where the members of a community can gather for social or cultural activities conference center, conference house - a center where conferences can be conducted control center - the operational center for a group of related activities; "the general in command never left the control center" research center, research facility - a center where research is done service club - a recreational center for servicemen settlement house - a center in an underprivileged area that provides community services student center - a center for student activities at a college or university | |
| 4. | center - a point equidistant from the ends of a line or the extremities of a figure bight - the middle part of a slack rope (as distinguished from its ends) center of curvature, centre of curvature - the center of the circle of curvature bowels - the center of the Earth bull's eye, bull - the center of a target center of gravity, centre of gravity - the point within something at which gravity can be considered to act; in uniform gravity it is equal to the center of mass center of mass, centre of mass - point representing the mean position of the matter in a body core - the center of an object; "the ball has a titanium core" navel point, navel - the center point or middle of something; "the Incas believed that Cuzco was the navel of the universe" nombril - the center point on a shield point - the precise location of something; a spatially limited location; "she walked to a point where she could survey the whole street" core - the central part of the Earth nucleus - the positively charged dense center of an atom nucleus - (astronomy) the center of the head of a comet; consists of small solid particles of ice and frozen gas that vaporizes on approaching the sun to form the coma and tail | |
| 5. | center - the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience; "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the heart and soul of the Republican Party"; "the nub of the story" essence, heart and soul, inwardness, nitty-gritty, pith, substance, gist, kernel, nub, meat, sum, core, heart, marrow, centre cognitive content, mental object, content - the sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned bare bones - (plural) the most basic facts or elements; "he told us only the bare bones of the story" hypostasis - (metaphysics) essential nature or underlying reality haecceity, quiddity - the essence that makes something the kind of thing it is and makes it different from any other quintessence - the purest and most concentrated essence of something stuff - a critically important or characteristic component; "suspense is the very stuff of narrative" | |
| 6. | center - the object upon which interest and attention focuses; "his stories made him the center of the party" object - the focus of cognitions or feelings; "objects of thought"; "the object of my affection" conversation piece - something interesting that stimulates conversation crosshairs - a center of interest; "the war on terrorism has put Saddam Hussein in the crosshairs" cynosure - something that strongly attracts attention and admiration; "if he was the cynosure of all eyes he didn't notice" eye-catcher - a striking person or thing that attracts attention | |
| 7. | center - a cluster of nerve cells governing a specific bodily process; "in most people the speech center is in the left hemisphere" neural structure - a structure that is part of the nervous system auditory center - the part of the brain (in a fold of the cerebral cortex of the temporal lobe on both sides of the brain) that receives impulses from the ear by way of the auditory nerve olfactory brain, rhinencephalon - a center in the cerebral hemispheres that governs the sense of smell in lower animals; in humans it seems to mediate complex emotional behavior Broca's area, Broca's center, Broca's convolution, Broca's gyrus, convolution of Broca - the motor speech center in the left hemisphere of the brain in most people Wernicke's area, Wernicke's center - the auditory word center; located in the posterior part of the superior temporal convolution in most people superior colliculus - an essential visual center between the retina and the striate cortex inferior colliculus - an essential auditory center in the midbrain respiratory center - the center in the medulla oblongata and pons that integrates sensory information about the level of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood and determines the signals to be sent to the respiratory muscles | |
| 8. | center - the middle of a military or naval formation; "they had to reinforce the center" armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; "the military machine is the same one we faced in 1991 but now it is weaker" formation - an arrangement of people or things acting as a unit; "a defensive formation"; "a formation of planes" | |
| 9. | center - (basketball) the person who plays center on a basketball team basketball, basketball game, hoops - a game played on a court by two opposing teams of 5 players; points are scored by throwing the ball through an elevated horizontal hoop | |
| 10. | center - (football) the person who plays center on the line of scrimmage and snaps the ball to the quarterback; "the center fumbled the handoff" football, football game - any of various games played with a ball (round or oval) in which two teams try to kick or carry or propel the ball into each other's goal lineman - one of the players on the line of scrimmage | |
| 11. | center - a place where some particular activity is concentrated; "they received messages from several centers" place, property - any area set aside for a particular purpose; "who owns this place?"; "the president was concerned about the property across from the White House" nerve center, nerve centre - a center that provides information and control; "the nerve center of the diamond industry is in Amsterdam" capital - a center that is associated more than any other with some activity or product; "the crime capital of Italy"; "the drug capital of Columbia" | |
| 12. | center - politically moderate persons; centrists social class, socio-economic class, stratum, class - people having the same social, economic, or educational status; "the working class"; "an emerging professional class" centrist, middle of the roader, moderate, moderationist - a person who takes a position in the political center | |
| 13. | center - (ice hockey) the person who plays center on a hockey team hockey game, ice hockey, hockey - a game played on an ice rink by two opposing teams of six skaters each who try to knock a flat round puck into the opponents' goal with angled sticks hockey player, ice-hockey player - an athlete who plays hockey | |
| 14. | center - the sweet central portion of a piece of candy that is enclosed in chocolate or some other covering confection, sweet - a food rich in sugar chocolate candy - candy made with chocolate | |
| 15. |  center - mercantile establishment consisting of a carefully landscaped complex of shops representing leading merchandisers; usually includes restaurants and a convenient parking area; a modern version of the traditional marketplace; "a good plaza should have a movie house"; "they spent their weekends at the local malls"food court - an area (as in a shopping mall) where fast food is sold (usually around a common eating area) mercantile establishment, outlet, retail store, sales outlet - a place of business for retailing goods | |
| 16. | center - the position on a hockey team of the player who participates in the face off at the beginning of the game position - (in team sports) the role assigned to an individual player; "what position does he play?" hockey team - a team that plays ice hockey | |
| 17. | center - (American football) the position of the player on the line of scrimmage who puts the ball in play; "it is a center's responsibility to get the football to the quarterback" lineman - (American football) the position of a player on a football team who is stationed on the line of scrimmage football team, eleven - a team that plays football | |
| 18. | center - a position on a basketball team of the player who participates in the jump that starts the game position - (in team sports) the role assigned to an individual player; "what position does he play?" basketball team, five - a team that plays basketball | |
| Verb | 1. | center - center upon; "Her entire attention centered on her children"; "Our day revolved around our work" |
| 2. | center - direct one's attention on something; "Please focus on your studies and not on your hobbies" engross, engulf, steep, soak up, immerse, absorb, plunge - devote (oneself) fully to; "He immersed himself into his studies" cerebrate, cogitate, think - use or exercise the mind or one's power of reason in order to make inferences, decisions, or arrive at a solution or judgments; "I've been thinking all day and getting nowhere" rivet - hold (someone's attention); "The discovery of the skull riveted the paleontologists" recall - cause one's (or someone else's) thoughts or attention to return from a reverie or digression; "She was recalled by a loud laugh" think - focus one's attention on a certain state; "Think big"; "think thin" zoom in - examine closely; focus one's attention on; "He zoomed in on the book" | |
| 3. | center - move into the center; "That vase in the picture is not centered" move, displace - cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense; "Move those boxes into the corner, please"; "I'm moving my money to another bank"; "The director moved more responsibilities onto his new assistant" center, center on, concentrate on, focus on, revolve about, revolve around - center upon; "Her entire attention centered on her children"; "Our day revolved around our work" | |
| Adj. | 1. | center - equally distant from the extremes central - in or near a center or constituting a center; the inner area; "a central position" |
| 2. | center - of or belonging to neither the right nor the left politically or intellectually left - of or belonging to the political or intellectual left right - of or belonging to the political or intellectual right |
How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content.
| ?Page tools | ||
|---|---|---|
|