CENTRAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does central mean? 

• CENTRAL (noun)
  The noun CENTRAL has 1 sense:

1. a workplace that serves as a telecommunications facility where lines from telephones can be connected together to permit communication

  Familiarity information: CENTRAL used as a noun is very rare.

• CENTRAL (adjective)
  The adjective CENTRAL has 2 senses:

1. serving as an essential component

2. in or near a center or constituting a center; the inner area

  Familiarity information: CENTRAL used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CENTRAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A workplace that serves as a telecommunications facility where lines from telephones can be connected together to permit communication

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

central; exchange; telephone exchange

Hypernyms ("central" is a kind of...):

work; workplace (a place where work is done)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "central"):

centrex ((CENTRal EXchange) a kind of telephone exchange)

patchboard; plugboard; switchboard (telephone central where circuits are completed with patchcords)

Holonyms ("central" is a part of...):

phone system; telephone system (a communication system that transmits sound between distant points)

Derivation:

central (in or near a center or constituting a center; the inner area)

• CENTRAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Serving as an essential component

Synonyms:

cardinal; central; fundamental; key; primal

Context example:

computers are fundamental to modern industrial structure

Similar:

important; of import (of great significance or value)

Derivation:

center (the object upon which interest and attention focuses)

center (the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In or near a center or constituting a center; the inner area

Context example:

a central position

Similar:

amidship (located in the middle part of a ship or aircraft)

bicentric (having two centers)

bifocal (having two foci)

center; halfway; middle; midway (equally distant from the extremes)

centered (being or placed in the center)

centric; centrical (having or situated at or near a center)

focal (having or localized centrally at a focus)

medial; median (relating to or situated in or extending toward the middle)

middlemost; midmost (being in the exact middle)

nuclear (constituting or like a nucleus)

Antonym:

peripheral (on or near an edge or constituting an outer boundary; the outer area)

Derivation:

center (a point equidistant from the ends of a line or the extremities of a figure)

center (an area that is approximately central within some larger region)

central (a workplace that serves as a telecommunications facility where lines from telephones can be connected together to permit communication)

centrality (the property of being central)

 Context examples 

Researchers had shown the virus replicates in parent cells, which belong to the fetus, to the central nerve.

(Zika virus found to harm adults’ memory and motor system, Agência Brasil/EBC)

Methadone hydrochloride binds to opioid receptors in the central nervous system.

(Methadone hydrochloride, NCI Dictionary)

Insulin is a hormone that plays a central role in precisely controlling levels of circulating glucose—the essential fuel used by cells -.

(Researchers Develop Insulin-Producing Cells Activated by Light for Diabetes, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Researchers were able to show that celastrol specifically activates satiety centers in the brain, which play a central role in the control of body weight.

(German scientists find potential treatment for obesity, Agência Brasil)

A malignant neoplasm that has spread to the central nervous system from another anatomic site or system.

(Metastatic Malignant Neoplasm to the Central Nervous System, NCI Thesaurus)

Such a high velocity can only be accelerated by the strong gravity of the central black hole.

(Astronomers Study How Quasars Are Powered by Accretion Disks, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Although the exact mechanism through which metaxalone exerts its effect is largely unknown, it might be due to general central nervous system (CNS) depression.

(Metaxalone, NCI Thesaurus)

A hidden treasure on Ceres is the 6-mile-wide (10-kilometer-wide) Oxo Crater, which is the second-brightest feature on Ceres (only Occator's central area is brighter).

(New Ceres Images Show Bright Craters, NASA)

Methyldopa is a prodrug and is metabolized in the central nervous system.

(Methyldopa, NCI Thesaurus)

Unlike humans, octopuses have multiple brains rather than just one central nervous system.

(Octopuses can dream, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)