epicenter

especially British, ep·i·cen·tre

[ep-uh-sen-ter]

noun

1. Geology.,  Also a point, directly above the true center of disturbance, from which the shock waves of an earthquake apparently radiate.

2. a focal point, as of activity.

   Manhattan's Chinatown is the epicenter of the city's Chinese community.

epicenter

1. The point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the focus (the point of origin) of an earthquake. The epicenter is usually the location where the greatest damage associated with an earthquake occurs.

2. See Note at earthquake

Other Word Forms

• epicentral adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of epicenter¹

1885–90; < New Latin epicentrum < Greek epíkentros on the center. See epi-, center

Example Sentences

Such a scenario would bring worse shaking to San Francisco than what occurred in 1906, where the epicenter was around the Golden Gate but then moved away from the city.

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The earthquakes — which maxed out at magnitude 3.5 before sunrise Sunday — had an epicenter in the San Bernardino Mountains about four miles north of Big Bear Airport.

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On Sept. 22, Newsom promoted the state’s partnerships with tech companies on AI efforts and touted how the tech industry has fueled California’s economy, calling the state the “epicenter of American innovation.”

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To be sure, the Bay Area is an AI startup epicenter but this is likely to offer opportunities for the investor class, a handful of entrepreneurs and well-compensated “genius” programmers, not middle- and working-class Californians.

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And states like Sinaloa that have been at the epicenter of the drug trade have seen an exponential rise in killings.

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Related Words

• command post 
• focal point 
• headquarters 
• hotbed