center

American  

[sen-ter] / ˈsɛn tər /

especially British, centre

noun

• centers
  plural

1. 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:

   edge

2. a point, pivot, axis, etc., around which anything rotates or revolves.

   The sun is the center of the solar system.

3. the source of an influence, action, force, etc..

   the center of a problem.

4. a point, place, person, etc., upon which interest, emotion, etc., focuses.

   His family is the center of his life.

5. a principal point, place, or object.

   a shipping center.

6. 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.

7. an office or other facility providing a specific service or dealing with a particular emergency.

   a flood-relief center; a crisis center.

8. a person, thing, group, etc., occupying the middle position, especially a body of troops.

9. the core or middle of anything.

   chocolate candies with fruit centers.

10. 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.

11. shopping center.

12. (usually initial capital letter)

    1. 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.

    2. the members of such an assembly who sit in the Center.

    3. the political position of persons who hold moderate views.

    4. politically moderate persons, taken collectively; Centrists; middle-of-the-roaders.

       Unfortunately, his homeland has always lacked a responsible Center.

13. Football.

    1. 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.

    2. the position played by this lineman.

14. Basketball.

    1. a player who participates in a center jump.

    2. the position of the player in the center of the court, where the center jump takes place at the beginning of play.

15. Ice Hockey. a player who participates in a face-off at the beginning of play.

16. Baseball. center field.

17. Physiology. a cluster of nerve cells governing a specific organic process.

    the vasomotor center.

18. Mathematics.

    1. the mean position of a figure or system.

    2. the set of elements of a group that commute with every element of the group.

19. Machinery.

    1. 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.

    2. one of two similar points on some other machine, as a planing machine, enabling an object to be turned on its axis.

    3. a tapered indentation, in a piece to be turned on a lathe, into which a center is fitted.

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verb (used with object)

• centers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• centered,
  past participle,  past
• centering
  present participle

1. to place in or on a center.

   She centered the clock on the mantelpiece.

2. to collect to or around a center; focus.

   He centered his novel on the Civil War.

3. to determine or mark the center of.

   A small brass star centered the tabletop.

4. 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.

5. to place (an object, part, etc.) so as to be equidistant from all bordering or adjacent areas.

6. Football. snap.

7. to pass (a basketball, hockey puck, etc.) from any place along the periphery toward the middle of the playing area.

verb (used without object)

• centers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• centered,
  past participle,  past
• centering
  present participle

1. to be at or come to a center.

2. to come to a focus; converge; concentrate (followed by at, about, around, in, oron ).

   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.

3. to gather or accumulate in a cluster; collect (followed by at, about, around, in, oron ).

   Shops and municipal buildings center around the city square.

idioms

1. 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.

center British  

/ ˈsɛntə /

noun

1. the US spelling of centre

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center More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing center

• front and center

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Usage

Although sometimes condemned for alleged illogicality, the phrases center about and center around have appeared in edited writing for more than a century to express the sense of gathering or collecting as if around a center: The objections center around the question of fiscal responsibility.

Synonym Usage

See middle.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• supercenter
  noun
• centerable
  adjective
• centerless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• centers
  plural

Participles

• centering
  present
• centered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• center
  simple
• centers
  simple
• have centered
  perfect
• has centered
  perfect
• am centering
  progressive
• are centering
  progressive
• is centering
  progressive
• have been centering
  perfect progressive
• has been centering
  perfect progressive

Past

• centered
  simple
• had centered
  perfect
• was centering
  progressive
• were centering
  progressive
• had been centering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will center
  simple
• will have centered
  perfect
• will be centering
  progressive
• will have been centering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of center

First recorded in 1325–75; variant of Middle English centre, from Latin centrum, from Greek kéntron “needle, spur, pivoting point in drawing a circle,” derivative of kenteîn “to sting”

Explanation

Whether you are the center of attention or hanging out at the recreation center, you are in the middle of it all. You might think of a circle when you think of a center, but a center is also a building or group of buildings. One five-sided place, the Pentagon in the U.S., is actually a center of government activity. A recreation center is a place where a lot of recreation happens, just as a medical center is where a lot of doctors and nurses give medical treatment. These centers are buildings or complexes where a certain kind of activity takes place, and a word before center often tells you what the activity is. As a verb, you can center your attention on something or center a centerpiece in the middle of a table.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

center centers centered centering

On top of these, Nvidia disclosed Wednesday that it has entered into data center lease agreements worth $20 billion that it expects to transfer to third parties.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Warsh will take center stage at 10 a.m.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

The $150-million training center in El Segundo is the biggest investment in women’s sports in the U.S., but it’s only a start with new ownership needed too.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

Ruthenium dioxide has been at the center of a lengthy scientific debate as physicists tried to determine whether its bulk form was magnetic.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026

Your older sister’s throwaway comment sliced right to your center.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

The gloves have been adopted in detention centers, law enforcement agencies and jails across the country, though apparently none in California.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

Evercore analysts said the move will also allow SpaceX to put data centers into orbit, potentially dodging the growing backlash in the U.S. against artificial-intelligence cloud operators.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

Nvidia's biggest customers -- Amazon, Microsoft, Google-parent Alphabet and Meta -- are on track to spend roughly $800 billion on data centers and AI infrastructure this year.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

They activate what Mr. Lieberman refers to as “primeval cravings,” stimulating the brain’s reward centers and contributing to addiction and overconsumption.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

It was also the landmass with the two centers where food production began the earliest: the Fertile Crescent and China.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Most previous toxicology research involving honeybees has centered on worker bees.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026

A decades-old puzzle in nuclear physics has centered on a strange question: why do some atomic nuclei release more low-energy gamma rays than scientists expect?

From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026

The attack still lingers in metro Detroit’s close-knit Jewish community, which is centered on Moss’ congressional district.

From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026

California’s law was passed following a large measles outbreak centered at Disneyland that resulted in 131 cases in California alone, and spread to six other states, as well as Canada and Mexico.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026

This is critical, since most of the self-confidence issues regarding the arts is centered around the idea that children can “get it wrong” or the idea that what they create is less than perfect.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

In Memphis, Tenn., 31-year old Justin Pearson is finding support by centering data-center opposition in his Democratic campaign for Congress.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026

Going into the tournament there was a lot of talk centering on how Aronimink could prove too easy for the world's best.

From BBC ● May 16, 2026

This time, instead of centering around the private sector, a Treasury crisis could hamper the government’s ability to finance itself.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 16, 2026

I would go so far as to say that we need to go one step further, by decentering partnership, and centering love.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026

And then, rather than centering their agriculture on annual crops, they focused on the Amazon’s wildly diverse assortment of trees.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Related Words

• capital
• city
• club
• heart
• hub
• mall
• market
• plaza
• shopping center
• station
• town