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• core
  core

  noun

  the central part of a fleshy fruit, containing the seeds.
• Core
  Core

  noun

  Korah.
• CORE
  CORE

  noun

  Congress of Racial Equality.
• -core
  -core

  a combining form extracted from hard-core, used to form words that name a rebellious or nonmainstream lifestyle, social movement, type of music, etc..

core

¹ American  

[kawr] / kɔr /

noun

1. the central part of a fleshy fruit, containing the seeds.

2. the central, innermost, or most essential part of anything.

   Synonyms:

   center, nub, kernel, gist, heart, essence

3. Also called magnetic core. Electricity. the piece of iron, bundle of iron wires, or other ferrous material forming the central or inner portion in an electromagnet, induction coil, transformer, or the like.

4. (in mining, geology, etc.) a cylindrical sample of earth, mineral, or rock extracted from the ground by means of a corer so that the strata are undisturbed in the sample.

5. the inside wood of a tree.

6. Anthropology. a lump of stone, as flint, from which prehistoric humans struck flakes in order to make tools.

7. Carpentry.

   1. a thickness of wood forming a base for a veneer.

   2. a wooden construction, as in a door, forming a backing for veneers.

8. Engineering. kern.

9. Metallurgy.

   1. a thickness of base metal beneath a cladding.

   2. the softer interior of a piece of casehardened metal.

   3. a specially formed refractory object inserted into a mold to produce cavities or depressions in the casting that cannot be readily formed on the pattern.

10. Geology. the central portion of the earth, having a radius of about 2,100 miles (3,379 km) and believed to be composed mainly of iron and nickel in a molten state.

11. Also called reactor core. Physics. the region in a reactor that contains its fissionable material.

12. Computers.

    1. Also called magnetic core. a small ring or loop of ferromagnetic material with two states of polarization that can be changed by changing the direction of the current applied in wires wound around the ring, used to store one bit of information or to perform switching or logical functions.

    2. Also called main memory, RAM. a term used to refer to main memory, though no longer made from from coils of ferromagnetic material.

13. Ropemaking. heart.

14. Phonetics. the final segment of a syllable beginning with the vowel and including any following consonants; the nucleus plus the coda.

15. the muscles of the torso, which provide support for the spine and pelvis.

    Building a strong core can help with posture and flexibility and can prevent back injury.

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verb (used with object)

• cores,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cored,
  past participle,  past
• coring
  present participle

1. to remove the core of (fruit).

2. to cut from the central part.

3. to remove (a cylindrical sample) from the interior, as of the earth or a tree trunk.

   to core the ocean bottom.

4. to form a cavity in (a molded object) by placing a core, as of sand, in the mold before pouring.

adjective

1. of central importance; basic; fundamental.

   the core values of our organization.

2. noting or relating to the muscles of the torso.

   core exercises for back pain.

core ² American  

[kawr, kohr] / kɔr, koʊr /

noun

Chiefly Scot.

1. a small company or group of people, especially a gang of miners or a small corps of workers.

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Core ³ American  

[kawr-ee, kohr-ee] / ˈkɔr i, ˈkoʊr i /

noun

1. Korah.

2. Classical Mythology. Kore.

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CORE ⁴ American  

[kawr, kohr] / kɔr, koʊr /

Or C.O.R.E.

noun

1. Congress of Racial Equality.

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-core ⁵ American  

1. a combining form extracted from hard-core, used to form words that name a rebellious or nonmainstream lifestyle, social movement, type of music, etc..

2. the compounding form of core, used to form words describing an aesthetic or imagery that evokes nostalgia for vintage styles, traditional skills, past trends, etc..

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core ¹ British  

/ kɔː /

noun

1. the central part of certain fleshy fruits, such as the apple or pear, consisting of the seeds and supporting parts

2. 1. the central, innermost, or most essential part of something

      the core of the argument

   2. ( as modifier )

      the core meaning

3. a piece of magnetic material, such as soft iron, placed inside the windings of an electromagnet or transformer to intensify and direct the magnetic field

4. geology the central part of the earth, beneath the mantle, consisting mainly of iron and nickel, which has an inner solid part surrounded by an outer liquid part

5. a cylindrical sample of rock, soil, etc, obtained by the use of a hollow drill

6. shaped body of material (in metal casting usually of sand) supported inside a mould to form a cavity of predetermined shape in the finished casting

7. physics the region of a nuclear reactor in which the reaction takes place

8. a layer of wood serving as a backing for a veneer

9. computing

   1. one of several processing units working in parallel in a computer

   2. a ferrite ring formerly used in a computer memory to store one bit of information

   3. short for core store

   4. ( as modifier )

      core memory

10. archaeol a lump of stone or flint from which flakes or blades have been removed

11. physics the nucleus together with all complete electron shells of an atom

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verb

1. (tr) to remove the core from (fruit)

-core ² British  

combining form

1. indicating a type of popular music

   dancecore

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combining form

1. indicating the number of processing units working in parallel in a computer

   dual-core

CORE ³ British  

/ kɔː /

acronym

1. Congress of Racial Equality

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core Scientific  

/ kôr /

1. The central or innermost portion of the Earth, lying below the mantle and probably consisting of iron and nickel. It is divided into a liquid outer core, which begins at a depth of 2,898 km (1,800 mi), and a solid inner core, which begins at a depth of 4,983 km (3,090 mi).

2. A piece of magnetizable material, such as a rod of soft iron, that is placed inside an electrical coil or transformer to intensify and provide a path for the magnetic field produced by the current running through the wire windings.

3. The central part of a nuclear reactor where atomic fission occurs. The core contains the fuel, the coolant, and the moderator.

4. A long, cylindrical sample of soil, rock, or ice collected with a drill to study the strata of material that are not visible from the surface.

5. A stone from which one or more flakes have been removed, serving as a tool in itself or as a source of flakes from which other tools could be fashioned. Stones used as cores include flint, chert, and obsidian.

6. See more at core tool

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core Cultural  

1. In geology, the central region of the Earth; it extends fourteen hundred to eighteen hundred miles from the Earth's center.

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core Idioms  

1. see rotten to the core.

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Usage

What does -core mean? The combining form -core is used like a suffix to denote "a rebellious, anti-mainstream lifestyle, social movement, type of music, etc."The form -core comes from the expression hardcore, "a form of punk rock or other nonmainstream popular music." Hardcore can denote not just a kind of a music but an entire lifestyle culture. From this, -core came to denote other music scenes, lifestyle cultures, or aesthetics.

Discover More

The core is made primarily of iron and nickel and has two parts — an inner solid core and an outer liquid core.

The mantle is the layer of the Earth that overlies the core.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• coreless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• coring
  present
• cored
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• core
  simple
• cores
  simple
• have cored
  perfect
• has cored
  perfect
• am coring
  progressive
• are coring
  progressive
• is coring
  progressive
• have been coring
  perfect progressive
• has been coring
  perfect progressive

Past

• cored
  simple
• had cored
  perfect
• was coring
  progressive
• were coring
  progressive
• had been coring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will core
  simple
• will have cored
  perfect
• will be coring
  progressive
• will have been coring
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of core¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; 1945–50 core ¹ for def. 11; Middle English; origin uncertain; perhaps from Old French cors “body,” from Latin corpus

Origin of core²

First recorded in 1620–30; alteration of Middle English chor(e) “group, company; choir”; see chorus

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Explanation

If you're looking for the most essential part or the very center of something, you're looking for its core. Like the inedible middle of an apple or your inner circle of core friends. In the late 14th century, the noun core came about from the Old French coeur, meaning “core of fruit” and more literally, “heart.” So the core of something is its very heart, whether you're talking about the seed-containing center of a fruit, the central meaning of a book, or the core courses you need to take in order to graduate.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

core Core CORE cores cored coring

AT&T boosted its full-year profit outlook, but shares fell as some on Wall Street were disappointed by its core wireless-subscriber numbers and rising expenses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

The Welsh government said it doesn't provide the core funding but "recognise the concerns raised and are clear that we need to do all we can to reduce the risk of wildfires".

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

It’s student-athlete core, a mish-mash of choirs, electric guitar noises over pounding drums that all sound like keyboard presets.

From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2026

“I think you’re going to see that evolve from where we’re at today, but the core of it is stand-up comedy. Right now, it’s serving those comedy superfans.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

I know how to slice an apple with only four cuts, so there’s no core, only fruit.

From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

Core CPI was 2.8% in the 12 months to September 2026, up from 2.6% in the 12 months to August.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

Core prices excluding volatile food and energy costs rose a steady 2.1% from a year earlier.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026

Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile food and energy items, rose 0.33% in September, the second straight firm monthly reading.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Core prices that exclude food and energy are expected to show a rise of 0.2% in September.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

So far, forty-six states and the District of Columbia have signed on to what is called the Common Core set of standards.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

The Inland Empire nonprofit, which managed and built affordable housing complexes, is now known as National Community Renaissance, or National CORE.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026

Building and training an LLM from scratch is too costly for all but the wealthiest organizations, says Petr Knoth, director of CORE, the world’s largest repository of open-access papers.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 21, 2023

Ann Lee, co-founder of US-based crisis response group CORE, which is still operating in the capital, said that many international groups had left due to increasing intimidation and violence against staff.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2023

Black church congregations folded bills hidden inside envelopes and sent the money to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, to the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, to the NAACP, to CORE.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 25, 2023

Although McKissick presided over the beginning of these changes, Joycelyn McKissick says her father never favored a blacks-only CORE.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

Known as active galactic nuclei, these bright and powerful galactic cores can launch jets of particles and enormous outbursts that influence conditions across their host galaxies.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 20, 2026

As an archaeologist in southern Scandinavia, I studied peat cores for pollen, fallen into nearby wetlands centuries earlier, to understand the nature of the historical plant life and climate of a particular site.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

Evidence supporting that interpretation has come from drill cores -- long cylinders of solid rock pulled from deep underground -- recovered from ancient marine sediments in Karelia, Russia, and the Francevillian Basin in Gabon.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026

Ice cores taken from the slopes of Puncak Jaya preserve a record of climate history.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

But already I was halfway around the building and had seen nothing but orange peels and apple cores, discarded playbills and ballad-sheets.

From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood

He has described the prehistoric-looking Dalmatian pelicans, which “have eyes of such tremulous glacial depths—the bluish-gray sclera like an ice sheet being cored by the black iris—that they appear to hold entire worlds inside them.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Lately there has been increasing interest in smaller devices with a more spherical shape, like a cored apple.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 5, 2023

The Astros cored a run off Murfee and four off Tommy Milone and another off Ryan Borucki.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 29, 2022

They studied, cored and examined the rings of a portion of those trees and learned they all had at least one thing in common: They used water more efficiently than their deceased neighbors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2019

Andrew Kirkaldy, a shrewd man, and one, besides, who had no interest in the sale of balls, solid or rubber cored, was one of the first and most enthusiastic converts.

From Fifty Years of Golf by Horace G. Hutchinson

Their work included sediment coring, laboratory testing, climate reconstructions, and studies of past plant and animal activity.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 11, 2026

It’s comfortable in my hand, sharp and precise without feeling fussy, and it turns the quiet, repetitive work of cooking — chopping onions, coring fruit, slicing protein — into something smoother, even a little satisfying.

From Salon ● Apr. 21, 2026

She joined Neff in pushing for the Thwaites collaboration to include ice coring, but a combination of competing priorities, perpetually bad weather, and difficult logistics stood in the way.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 18, 2024

A mix of tests was used at the site including "coring", which involves the drilling and extraction of cylinders of concrete.

From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2024

Toasting bread and cheese, coring apples, placing chestnuts in the fire to roast.

From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins

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Related Words

• basis
• body
• bottom line
• crux
• essence
• focus
• foundation
• heart
• importance
• nucleus
• origin
• root
• substance
• thrust

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