central

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: cen=tral

CIDE DICTIONARY

central, a. [L. centralis, fr. centrum: cf. F. central. See Center.].

 Relating to the center; situated in or near the center or middle; containing the center; of or pertaining to the parts near the center<-- original had "or of.." -->; equidistant or equally accessible from certain points.  [1913 Webster]

Central force (Math.), a force acting upon a body towards or away from a fixed or movable center. -- Center sun (Astron.), a name given to a hypothetical body about which Mädler supposed the solar system together with all the stars in the Milky Way, to be revolving. A point near Alcyone in the Pleiades was supposed to possess characteristics of the position of such a body.

central, n. [NL. centrale, fr. L. centralis.].

 The central, or one of the central, bones of the carpus or or tarsus. In the tarsus of man it is represented by the navicular.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

central, adj.
1 of, at, or forming the centre.
2 from the centre.
3 chief, essential, most important.

Idiom

Central America the isthmus joining North and South America. central bank a national bank issuing currency etc. central heating a method of warming a building by pipes, radiators, etc., fed from a central source of heat. central nervous system Anat. the complex of nerve tissues that controls the activities of the body, in vertebrates the brain and spinal cord. central processor (or processing unit) the principal operating part of a computer.

Derivative

centrality n. centrally adv.

Etymology

F central or L centralis f. centrum CENTRE

THESAURUS

central

PBX operator, aboriginal, accented, all-absorbing, alveolar, amidships, apical, apico-alveolar, apico-dental, arch, articulated, assimilated, automatic exchange, average, axial, back, banal, banner, barytone, basal, basic, bedrock, bilabial, broad, cacuminal, capital, cardinal, center, centermost, central office, centralized, centric, centroidal, centrosymmetric, cerebral, champion, checked, chief, close, common, concentrated, consonant, consonantal, continuant, controlling, core, crowning, crucial, deep, dental, dissimilated, dominant, dorsal, elemental, elementary, embryonic, equatorial, equidistant, essential, first, flat, focal, foremost, front, fundamental, generative, genetic, geocentric, germinal, glide, glossal, glottal, great, guttural, halfway, hard, headmost, heavy, hegemonic, high, important, in embryo, in ovo, indispensable, indoor, inmost, inner, innermost, inside, interior, intermediary, intermediate, internal, intestine, intimate, intonated, intrinsic, inward, key, labial, labiodental, labiovelar, lateral, lax, leading, life-and-death, life-or-death, light, lingual, liquid, long distance, low, machine-switching office, magisterial, main, master, material, mean, medial, median, mediocre, mediterranean, medium, mesial, mezzo, mid, middle, middle-of-the-road, middlemost, middling, midland, midmost, midships, midway, moderate, monophthongal, muted, narrow, nasal, nasalized, normal, nuclear, occlusive, of vital importance, omphalic, open, operator, ordinary, original, outstanding, overriding, overruling, oxytone, palatal, palatalized, panel switching, paramount, pharyngeal, pharyngealized, phonemic, phonetic, phonic, pitch, pitched, pivotal, posttonic, predominant, preeminent, pregnant, preponderant, prevailing, primal, primary, prime, primeval, primitive, primordial, principal, pristine, protogenic, radical, ranking, retroflex, rounded, routine, rudimentary, ruling, salient, seminal, semivowel, signal, significant, soft, sonant, sovereign, standard, star, stellar, stopped, stressed, strong, substantive, supereminent, surd, switchboard operator, syllabic, telephone exchange, telephone office, telephone operator, telephonist, tense, thick, throaty, tonal, tonic, topflight, twangy, umbilical, unaccented, unrounded, unstressed, usual, velar, vital, vocalic, vocoid, voiced, voiceless, vowel, vowellike, weak, wide

ROGET THESAURUS

central

Middle

N middle, midst, mediety, mean, medium, middle term, center &c, mid-course, mezzo termine, juste milieu, halfway house, nave, navel, omphalos, nucleus, nucleolus, equidistance, bisection, half distance, equator, diaphragm, midriff, intermediate, middle, medial, mesial, mean, mid, median, average, middlemost, midmost, mediate, intermediate, equidistant, central, mediterranean, equatorial, homocentric, in the middle, midway, halfway, midships, amidships, in medias res.

Centrality

N centrality, centricalness, center, middle, focus, core, kernel, nucleus, nucleolus, heart, pole axis, bull's eye, nave, navel, umbilicus, backbone, marrow, pith, vertebra, vertebral column, hotbed, concentration, centralization, symmetry, center of gravity, center of pressure, center of percussion, center of oscillation, center of buoyancy, metacenter, central, centrical, middle, azygous, axial, focal, umbilical, concentric, middlemost, rachidian, spinal, vertebral, middle, midst, centrally.