# centre

Pronunciation: UK say "SEN-tuh" /ˈsɛntə/; US say "SEN-tur" /ˈsɛntəɹ/

## Noun

1. The part in the middle of something, at a good distance from its edges or sides.
   - Simple: The part in the middle of something, a long way from its sides or edges.
   - _The centre of the cake was still raw when we cut into it._
   - _The ice in the centre of the pond was still thick enough to stand on._
2. A place, often a building or group of buildings, given over to a particular purpose or activity.
   - Simple: A building or place used for a particular activity.
   - _The council plans to turn the old library into a community centre._
   - _Shoppers packed the town's two retail centres on the first weekend of the sales._
3. The central district of a town or city, containing the bulk of its shops, offices and public services.
   - Simple: The area of a town or city that has most of its shops, offices and services.
   - _Several banks have left the centre for a business park on the ring road._
   - _Our flat is a ten-minute walk from the centre, which makes Saturday shopping easy._
5. A place that serves as the focus of a particular activity, where much of that activity is gathered.
   - Simple: A place where a lot of one kind of activity happens.
   - _In the nineteenth century Manchester grew into the main centre of the cotton trade._
   - _London remains one of the world's leading financial centres._
6. The exact middle of a shape or line: the point halfway along a line, or the point equally distant from every point on a circle or sphere.
   - Simple: The exact middle of a shape or line, for example the middle of a circle or ball, or halfway along a line.
   - _Any straight line through the centre of a circle divides it into two equal halves._
   - _Every radius runs from the centre of the sphere to its surface._
8. The issue or element that matters most in a situation, decision or discussion, and around which everything else turns.
   - Simple: The most important part or subject, the one that everything else is about.
   - _The minister found herself at the centre of the row over the leaked report._
   - _Patient safety must stay at the centre of every decision the hospital makes._
11. The moderate political ground between left and right, or the parties and people who hold it, considered as a group.
   - Simple: Moderate political views between the left and the right, or the parties and people who have them.
   - _The election left the centre squeezed between a resurgent left and a populist right._
   - _After months of talks, a coalition of the centre took office._
9. In team sports such as rugby, netball, basketball, ice hockey, and American and Canadian football, a player in a central position in the team's line-up, or that position.
   - Simple: In sports such as rugby, netball and basketball, a player whose place is in the middle of the team, or that place.
   - _The young centre made a clever break before passing to the winger for the try._
   - _Coaches often pair a powerful inside centre with a quicker outside centre._
12. The inner filling of a chocolate or a similar sweet.
   - Simple: The filling inside a chocolate or another sweet.
   - _Each truffle has a rich ganache centre that melts as soon as you bite into it._
   - _Nobody in our house will touch the ones with strawberry centres, so they are always left in the tin._
13. A cluster of nerve cells that governs one specific process in the body.
   - Simple: A group of nerve cells that controls one of the things the body does.
   - _The respiratory centre in the brainstem sets the rhythm of breathing without any conscious effort._
   - _Strong painkillers can depress the centres that keep breathing and heart rate steady._
10. The central government or ruling authority of a country, as distinct from its regional or local bodies, especially in a state where power is held centrally.
   - Simple: The main government that runs a whole country, not the smaller governments of its regions or towns.
   - _Governors in the frontier provinces often ignored instructions sent from the centre._
   - _Tax money flowed inward to the centre while the outlying regions grew poorer._
15. In football, a pass played from a wide position into the area in front of the opponents' goal; a cross.
   - Simple: In football, a pass kicked from the side of the pitch into the area near the other team's goal.
   - _Smith met the low centre at the near post and turned it past the keeper._
   - _The winger's centres caused the defence problems all afternoon._

## Verb

4. To have something as the main subject or focus, or to make something the main focus of a plan, story or discussion; usually followed by on or around.
   - Simple: To be mainly about something, or to make something the main thing that a plan or talk is about.
   - _Talks between the two sides centre on the price of energy._
   - _The novel centres on two sisters who inherit a failing farm._
7. To place an object so that it sits in the middle of an area.
   - Simple: To put something in the middle of a space.
   - _Click this button to centre the text on the page._
   - _Make sure the cake tin is centred on the oven shelf._
14. To adjust a quantity or setting, such as a voltage or a balance control, to a value midway between its extremes.
   - Simple: To set something, such as a level or a control, halfway between its highest and lowest points.
   - _The technician centred the output voltage before calibrating the meter._
   - _Before recording, centre the pan control so the voice sits midway between the two speakers._

## Proper noun · Centre

17. The name of one of France's administrative regions before it was renamed Centre-Val de Loire.
   - Simple: The former name of a region of France that is now called Centre-Val de Loire.
   - _Orléans was the capital of Centre, and it kept that role when the region became Centre-Val de Loire._
   - _Older road maps label the whole area around the Loire châteaux simply as Centre._

## Noun

16. The innermost point of the Earth, or the Earth as a whole, regarded as the fixed middle and foundation of the universe; also that foundation in the abstract. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The middle of the Earth, or the Earth itself, thought of as the middle and base of the whole universe.

## Other meanings

- (noun) The point inside a figure of any number of dimensions whose coordinates are the mean of those of all points on its boundary, or of all interior points for a centre of volume.
- (noun) In two-up, a gambling game played in Australia and New Zealand, the ring within which the spinner works.
- (noun) A temporary framework that keeps the materials of an arch or vault in position until the structure can bear its own weight.
- (noun) Either of the two cone-shaped steel pins in a lathe or similar machine that hold the workpiece and around which it spins.
- (noun) A cone-shaped hollow formed in the end of a shaft or other workpiece to take the point of a lathe pin, so that the work can turn on it.
- (verb) To cut a cone-shaped recess in the end of a workpiece to receive the point of a lathe pin.
- (noun) In algebra, the set of elements of a group, semigroup, ring or algebra that commute with every element under its operation (multiplication, or the bracket for Lie algebras), usually written Z(G).
- (proper noun) A county of the state of Pennsylvania, in the United States, known in full as Centre County.

## Origin

Ultimately from Ancient Greek kéntron, which comes from kenteîn ("to prick, goad"). The word travelled through Latin centrum and Middle French centre into Middle English, where it was spelt center or centre. Centrum is its doublet.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/centre (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).