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

Derived 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

In the bottom of the sixth, Seattle center fielder Julio Rodríguez robbed Taylor of a two-run home run to dead center field.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 7, 2025

Julio Rodriguez ended Williams’ run of scoreless innings and his personal home run drought, crushing a sinker over the wall in dead center for this third homer of the year.

From Seattle Times • May 25, 2024

So, imagine me standing on top of a soapbox, dead center in the middle of a crowd of about 1,000 people, yelling at the top of my lungs, "All books are not created equal!"

From Salon • Apr. 5, 2024

The bang was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead center of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

Related Words

• center
• omphalos