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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  

/ kɔː /

acronym

1. Congress of Racial Equality

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-core ³ 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 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

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

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

And because Moore is so talented — so uniquely proficient at finding the human depth at the core of all her characters — she can make Mona unforgettable.

From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026

She considers the kits “the sparkle on top of the core offering.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

Fed officials have forecast that their favorite measure of inflation, the core level of the PCE index, will cool to a 2.5% annual rate in 2027, Lewis noted.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026

Gold lies at the core of the border tensions.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

And flow it would, down through the long, steep tunnel that was its track through the Mountain's core.

From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda

"Core inflation is still hovering well above target, and risks are firmly stacked to the upside because of the sharp rise in refined petroleum product prices in recent months," he said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

Core retail sales, which excludes gas stations and vehicle and parts dealers, were 0.7% lower for the month.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Core inflation fell to 1.7% in August from 1.8% the previous month but remains close to the bank's 2% target level.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy ‌prices, remained unchanged at 2.6% in August.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

The common Core Standards in the arts addresses some of the 21st-century goals in education as well.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

Earlier this month, L.A.-based aid organization Community Organized Relief Effort, or CORE, founded by Sean Penn and Ann Lee, broke ground on one of the hamlet’s newest local gathering spots: the Altadena Center for Community.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 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

“This will remove 490 trees, deforesting Bothell Way in the city. Also it will widen the road, shifting it west, cutting into the properties of 110 residents,” says the neighborhood group LFP CORE.

From Seattle Times ● May 15, 2023

Many questioned the validity of multiracial coalitions like CORE.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

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

Copernicus observations go back to 1940 but other evidence -- such as ice cores, tree rings and coral skeletons -- allow scientists to place today's climate against a much longer historical context.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

I must’ve gotten thrown off by the endless geek rants about globular clusters orbiting galactic cores, rants that I see are being kept under wraps in present company.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson

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

Engineers hope spherical tokamaks–shaped like a cored apple rather than a doughnut—can be built smaller and more cheaply than conventional tokamaks.

From Science Magazine ● Sep. 7, 2023

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

Fill a baking-dish with peeled and cored apples, pour the sago over them, cover and bake until the apples are tender.

From The Myrtle Reed Cook Book by Myrtle Reed

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

Han wanted to expand KOPRI’s ice coring efforts south from the country’s Jang Bogo Station along the same section of coastline Neff targeted.

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

While balancing on the small raft, they'd screw metal rods together to lower a long slender coring tube over 50 feet to the lake bottom.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2023

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

From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins

Related Words

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