dead center

American  

[ded sen-ter] / ˈdɛd ˈsɛn tər /

adverb

1. in or at the exact midpoint.

   The town is located dead center between Dallas and Houston.

   She took a single shot and hit the cardboard figure dead center.

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noun

1. the exact center or midpoint.

   I live in the dead center of the capitol, and parking is a nightmare.

   I hate when people leave their shopping cart in the dead center of the aisle.

2. Machinery.

   1. Also called dead point.  (in a reciprocating engine) either of two positions at which the crank cannot be turned by the connecting rod, occurring at each end of a stroke when the crank and connecting rod are in the same line.

   2. a tapered rod, mounted in the tailstock spindle of a lathe, upon which the work to be turned is placed.

Other Word Forms

• dead-center
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of dead center

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

The piston faces have small, crescent-shaped reliefs into which the valves extend near the top dead center.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

But the Dodgers needed just four batters to match that with Andy Pages belting a three-run homer, his ninth of the season, to dead center in the bottom of the inning.

From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2025

"RoboCop" endures and we are still talking about it almost four decades later because of the social and political issues it confronted, right there, dead center in the film.

From Salon • Apr. 19, 2025

With Sam Haggerty on first, Rodriguez crushed a 1-2 sinker from A’s starter Alex Wood over the wall in dead center for his second homer of the season.

From Seattle Times • May 12, 2024

The third bullet was for the filthy flamingo, who stopped dead center in the road when the lethal bee buzzed past his ear.

From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut

Related Words

• center
• omphalos