central heating

American  

noun

1. a system that supplies heat to an entire building from a single source through ducts or through pipes.

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central heating British  

noun

1. a system for heating the rooms of a building by means of radiators or air vents connected by pipes or ducts to a central source of heat

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Etymology

Origin of central heating

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

I received a similar question recently from a reader who had employed a heating engineer to fix their central heating.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026

O'Dowd explained that with half a million homes in NI relying on oil fired central heating the funding works out at around £35 per household.

From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026

In Zaporizhzhia, a frontline city home to 750,000 people, almost three-quarters of residents rely on central heating, according to Maksym Rohalsky, the head of the local association of apartment block dwellers.

From BBC • Jan. 24, 2026

Cow manure can be treated to release biomethane, a renewable gas which is already used to power central heating boilers in about a million homes.

From BBC • Dec. 17, 2025

Even with year-round air-conditioning and central heating one could never be sure.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole