epicenter

American  

[ep-uh-sen-ter] / ˈɛp əˌsɛn tər /

especially British, epicentre

noun

• epicenters
  plural

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.

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epicenter Scientific  

/ ĕp′ĭ-sĕn′tər /

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

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• epicentral
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• epicenters
  plural

Etymology

Origin of epicenter

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

Compare meaning

How does epicenter compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• hypocenter vs. epicenter

Explanation

Earthquakes start deep underground, and the epicenter is the central location of the earthquake, the point of land right above where an earthquake begins. When violent movement happens beneath the Earth’s surface, earthquakes send out destructive waves of vibration, sort of like ripples after you throw a rock into a lake. The epicenter is the place on the surface where those ripples start. The Greek epikentros means “situated on a center,” and that’s where you’ll find the epicenter, dead center in an earthquake’s destruction. Of course, you don’t really want to find it, because it’s kind of dangerous there.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

epicenter epicenters

It was Abbott who, not long ago, called his state the "epicenter of AI development."

From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026

Advancements in AI tools have also been reshaping jobs, especially in Silicon Valley, the epicenter of the tech industry.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

Choco was at the epicenter of the quake, and the death toll from the area was not immediately known.

From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026

Namgyal worked in Alaska, New York City and finally Colorado, the place most resembling Nepal and the epicenter of yak ranching in the United States.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026

For towns and cities close to the epicenter of the Great Tohoku Earthquake, the warning came fifteen seconds before the tremors.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

College campuses have been epicenters for protest movements and free speech since the Vietnam War era.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026

The virus then forced my wife Elvira and I to live apart from each other for the next 18 months — I in New York City, she in Italy, the two worldwide epicenters.

From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2025

A pair of modest earthquakes rattled Southern California on Saturday morning, with epicenters in Ontario.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2024

It says it was established in 2019 in the Philippines, one of the epicenters of the plastic pollution crisis.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 16, 2023

Epidemiologists have since discovered that the northwestern shore of Lake Victoria was one of the initial epicenters of aids.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

Related Words

• command post
• focal point
• headquarters
• hotbed