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

Deadly leadership battles are a problem that has long plagued other nations at the epicenter of Latin America’s decades-old drug war, underscoring the difficulty of stanching violence and curbing the flow of drugs.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

As it happens, Blue Owl’s data-center project in Abilene is on the edge of the West Texas oil patch that was the epicenter of the fracking boom.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Sendai, a large city close to the epicenter, was hit by the full force of the quake, but all of Honshu felt it.

Read more on Literature

The Internet bubble had burst, and yet house prices in San Jose, the bubble’s epicenter, were still rising.

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Ventura County was also the epicenter of two other devastating recent fires, both of which were sparked by power lines.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• command post 
• focal point 
• headquarters 
• hotbed