center
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsɛn.tə(ɹ)/
ipa: /ˈsɛn.(t)ɚ/
ipa: [ˈsɛɾ̃ɚ]
ipa: [ˈsɪɾ̃ɚ]
homophone: sinner (pin–pen merger, nt-flapping)
homophone: centre
rhymes: -ɛntə(ɹ)
Forms: form: centers
form: centre
Etymology: From Middle English center, centre, from Middle French centre, from Latin centrum, from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron), from κεντεῖν (kenteîn, “to prick, goad”). Doublet of centrum.
* (group theory): In the notation Z(G), the letter Z derives from the German Zentrum (“center”).
Senses: examples: text: If a point be taken within a circle, and more than two equal straight lines fall from the point on the circle, the point taken is the centre of the circle.
ref: 1908, Euclid, translated by Thomas L. Heath, Elements, III.9:
glosses: The point in the interior of a circle that is equidistant from all points on the circumference.
examples: text: Japanese scientists are to explore the centre of the Earth. Using a giant drill ship launched next month, the researchers aim to be the first to punch a hole through the rocky crust that covers our planet and to reach the mantle below.
ref: 2005 June 4, David Adam, The Guardian:
glosses: The point in the interior of a sphere that is equidistant from all points on the circumference.
glosses: The middle portion of something; the part well away from the edges.
examples: text: [...] their portion set
As far remov'd from God and light of Heav'n
As from the Center thrice to th'utmost Pole.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 73-75:
text: Leo. No: if I mistake
In those Foundations which I build upon,
The Centre is not bigge enough to beare
A Schoole-Boyes Top.
ref: c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 282, column 2:
glosses: The middle portion of something; the part well away from the edges.
The innermost point of the Earth, or the Earth itself, as the center or foundation of the Universe; the center or foundation of the Universe abstractly.
topics: geometry
mathematics
sciences
glosses: The point on a line that is midway between the ends.
topics: geometry
mathematics
sciences
glosses: The point in the interior of any figure of any number of dimensions that has as its coordinates the arithmetic mean of the coordinates of all points on the perimeter of the figure (or of all points in the interior for a center of volume).
examples: text: shopping center, convention center, civic center, garment center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Rockefeller Center
glosses: A place, especially a building or complex, set aside for some specified function or activity.
topics: government
politics
glosses: The ensemble of moderate or centrist political parties.
examples: text: In Anatolia tensions between state officials (ehl-i örf) and the peasants were strained to breaking point.
At several places—particularly in the frontier provinces—there were fierce clashes between the janissaries stationed there and the governors. In Aleppo and Damascus incidents were common after 1589: the kuls threw rocks at the beylerbeyi’s house, killed people, broke into the divan several times and took the money prepared by the council for remittance to the centre.
ref: 2018, Pál Fodor, The Business of State. Ottoman Finance Administration and Ruling Elites in Transition (1580s–1615) (Studien zur Sprache, Geschichte und Kultur der Turkvölker; 28), Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag × De Gruyter, published 2020, →DOI, →ISBN, page 50:
glosses: The venue in which the head of government in a centralized state is situated.
examples: text: the center of the controversy
text: the center of attention
glosses: A topic that is particularly important in a given context, the element in a subject of cognition, volition or discussion that is perceived as decisive.
topics: ball-games
basketball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A player in the middle of a playing area.
The player, generally the tallest, who plays closest to the basket.
topics: hobbies
ice-hockey
lifestyle
skating
sports
glosses: A player in the middle of a playing area.
The forward that generally plays between the left wing and right wing and usually takes the faceoffs.
topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A player in the middle of a playing area.
The person who holds the ball at the beginning of each play.
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
netball
sports
glosses: A player in the middle of a playing area.
A player who can go all over the court, except the shooting circles.
examples: text: Bent twice sent efforts wide of the far post after cutting in from the left, Wellbeck missed his kick from an inviting centre and failed to get on the end of a looping pass when six yards out.
ref: 2010 December 28, Owen Phillips, “Sunderland 0 - 2 Blackpool”, in BBC:
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
soccer
sports
glosses: A player in the middle of a playing area.
A pass played into the centre of the pitch.
examples: text: Gatland's side got back to within striking distance when fly-half Jones's clever pass sent centre Jonathan Davies arcing round Shontayne Hape.
ref: 2011 February 4, Gareth Roberts, “Wales 19-26 England”, in BBC:
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
rugby
sports
glosses: A player in the middle of a playing area.
One of the backs operating in a central area of the pitch, either the inside centre or outside centre.
topics: architecture
glosses: A certain mechanical implement functioning in the middle of a whole apparatus
A temporary structure upon which the materials of a vault or arch are supported in position until the work becomes self-supporting.
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A certain mechanical implement functioning in the middle of a whole apparatus
One of the two conical steel pins in a lathe, etc., upon which the work is held, and about which it revolves.
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A certain mechanical implement functioning in the middle of a whole apparatus
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.
glosses: A certain mechanical implement functioning in the middle of a whole apparatus
The ring in the gambling game two-up in which the spinner operates.
topics: algebra
group-theory
mathematics
sciences
qualifier: ring theory
glosses: The set of those elements (of a given algebraic structure) that commute with every other element, usually denoted Z(G). In the case of (semi-)groups, it is required that they commute under the (semi-)group operation; in the case of rings and (Lie) algebras, under multiplication (i.e. the bracket for Lie algebras)
Synonyms: sense: point on a line midway between the ends
word: midpoint
word: midpoint
sense: point in the interior of figure with mean coordinates
word: centroid
sense: point in the interior of figure with mean coordinates
word: center of gravity
sense: point in the interior of figure with mean coordinates
word: center of mass
sense: middle portion of something
word: middle
sense: middle portion of something
word: midst
Derived terms: adjustment center
alt-center
anticenter
apocenter
aquatic center
area control center
bandcenter
barycenter
behind center
bottom dead center
burn center
call center
center back
center-back
centerbit
centerboard
center-board
centercab
center circle
Center City
center console
centerfield
center field
center fielder
centerfire
centerfold
center forward
Center Game
centerground
centerish
center island
centerless
center line
centerline
centerman
center mark
center of attention
center of buoyancy
center of curvature
center of effort
center of excellence
center of gravity
center of inertia
center of lift
center of mass
center of symmetry
centerpiece
centerpin
centerpoint
centerpunch
center punch
center spot
center spread
centerspread
center square
center stage
centerstage
center stick
center tap
Centerville
centerward
centre-bit
chiral center
chromocenter
circumcenter
city center
civic center
Clay Center
cocenter
community center
concenter
control center
convention center
cool center
cooling center
correctional center
correction center
corrections center
cost center
crisis center
cultural center
data center
day care center
daycare center
dead-center
dead center
decenter
deictic center
detention center
distribution center
drop-in center
emergency dispatch center
entertainment center
excenter
feminine of center
fitness center
front-and-center
front and center
fusion center
galactic center
gaming center
garden center
germinal center
Grundy Center
Guthrie Center
gyrocenter
Hale Center
Hayes Center
health center
high-center
high center
horizontal machining center
incenter
intercenter
isocenter
job center
Le Center
left-of-center
leisure center
Lewis Center
Lincoln Center
machining center
masculine of center
media center
medical center
megacenter
monocenter
multicenter
multi-center
music center
nerve center
Niles Center
off-center
orthocenter
pericenter
photocenter
playcenter
pleasure center
power center
profit center
radical center
reassignment center
recenter
reception center
Richland Center
right-of-center
Rush Center
science center
shopping center
side center
Smith Center
Spieker center
sports center
stereocenter
storm center
subcenter
supercenter
surgicenter
tactical air control center
three-center two-electron bond
tonal center
top dead center
town center
turning center
uncenter
under center
Valley Center
vertical machining center
warming center
wilderness treatment center
Wilshire Center
world trade center
Yates Center
youth center
youth detention center