center > define

noun

• An area that is approximately central within some larger region.
  • usage: "it is in the center of town"; "they ran forward into the heart of the struggle"; "they were in the eye of the storm"
  • synonyms: centre, middle, heart, eye
• The piece of ground in the outfield directly ahead of the catcher.
  • usage: "he hit the ball to deep center"
  • synonyms: center field, centerfield
• A building dedicated to a particular activity.
  • usage: "they were raising money to build a new center for research"
  • synonyms: centre
• A point equidistant from the ends of a line or the extremities of a figure.
  • synonyms: centre, midpoint
• The choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience.
  • usage: "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the heart and soul of the Republican Party"; "the nub of the story"
  • synonyms: kernel, substance, core, centre, essence, gist, heart, heart and soul, inwardness, marrow, meat, nub, pith, sum, nitty-gritty
• The object upon which interest and attention focuses.
  • usage: "his stories made him the center of the party"
  • synonyms: centre, center of attention, centre of attention
• A cluster of nerve cells governing a specific bodily process.
  • usage: "in most people the speech center is in the left hemisphere"
  • synonyms: centre, nerve center, nerve centre
• The middle of a military or naval formation.
  • usage: "they had to reinforce the center"
• Basketball) the person who plays center on a basketball team. (
• Football) the person who plays center on the line of scrimmage and snaps the ball to the quarterback. (
  • usage: "the center fumbled the handoff"
  • synonyms: snapper
• A place where some particular activity is concentrated.
  • usage: "they received messages from several centers"
  • synonyms: centre
• Politically moderate persons; centrists.
• Ice hockey. ( the person who plays center on a hockey team)
• The sweet central portion of a piece of candy that is enclosed in chocolate or some other covering.
  • synonyms: centre
• 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.
  • usage: "a good plaza should have a movie house"; "they spent their weekends at the local malls"
  • synonyms: plaza, mall, shopping mall, shopping center, shopping centre
• The position on a hockey team of the player who participates in the face off at the beginning of the game.
• American football. ( the position of the player on the line of scrimmage who puts the ball in play)
  • usage: "it is a center's responsibility to get the football to the quarterback"
• A position on a basketball team of the player who participates in the jump that starts the game.

verb

• Center upon.
  • usage: "Her entire attention centered on her children"; "Our day revolved around our work"
  • synonyms: focus on, center on, revolve around, revolve about, concentrate on
• Direct one's attention on something.
  • usage: "Please focus on your studies and not on your hobbies"
  • synonyms: concentrate, focus, centre, pore, rivet
• Move into the center.
  • usage: "That vase in the picture is not centered"
  • synonyms: centre

adjective

• Equally distant from the extremes.
  • synonyms: halfway, middle, midway
• Of or belonging to neither the right nor the left politically or intellectually. .

• (n.) A principal or important point of concentration; the nucleus around which things are gathered or to which they tend; an object of attention, action or force; as, a center of attaction.
• (n.) A conical recess or indentation, in the end of a shaft or other work, to receive the point of a center, on which the work can turn, as in a lathe.
• (n.) The middle or central portion of anything.
• (v.i.) Alternative of Centre.
• (v.t.) Alternative of Centre.
• (n.) Those members of a legislative assembly (as in France) who support the existing government. They sit in the middle of the legislative chamber, opposite the presiding officer, between the conservatives or monarchists, who sit on the right of the speaker, and the radicals or advanced republicans who occupy the seats on his left, See Right, and Left.
• (n.) The earth.
• (n.) A point equally distant from the extremities of a line, figure or body or from all parts of the circumference of a circle; the middle point or place.
• (n.) One of the two conical steel pins, in a lathe, etc., upon which the work is held, and about which it revolves.
• (n.) A temporary structure upon which the materials of a vault or arch are supported in position until the work becomes self-supporting.
• Alternative of seal.
• Alternative of punch.