central
Syllables: cen·tral/ˈsɛntɹ(ə)l/
central adjective: being in the centre.
Adjective (1)
central (comparative more central, superlative most central or centralmost or (UK) centremost or (US) centermost)
- Being in the centre.
- Egyption Thebes; / Tyre by the margin of the sounding waves; / Palmyra, central in the Desert, fell; / And the Arts died by which they had been raised.1814, William Wordsworth, “The Parsonage”, in The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, volume V, London: Longman, published 1827, page 340
- The plantoid[…]will have a central stem containing a reservoir of liquid plastic of a sort that can be frozen by ultraviolet light. Half a dozen cylindrical roots will branch off this stem, and the plastic will flow through these from the reservoir to the tip. As in a real root, the tip will be a...2013 July 27, “Putting down roots”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8846
- Having or containing the centre of something.
- Being very important, or key to something.
- Cleverley was a central figure as England took the lead inside three minutes. He saw his shot handled by Moldovan defender Simion Bulgaru and Lampard drilled home the penalty in trademark fashion.2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport
- Passengers crowd in the main concourse at London Euston on January 28 2017, before boarding West Coast Main Line services. The urgent need to relieve congestion and improve reliability on the WCML remains central in the recently published Full Business Case for HS2.2020 May 6, Jim Steer, “Full Business Case offers fresh insight into HS2's prospects”, in Rail, page 51, photo caption
- Exerting its action towards the peripheral organs.
- Of an element of an algebraic structure: which commutes with all other elements under multiplication
- Of a unital algebra over a field: whose center is exactly equal to the image of the base field
Noun
central (plural centrals)
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Central
Central
- A former local government region in central Scotland, created in 1975 mainly from Stirlingshire, abolished in 1996 and divided into 3 council areas: Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling (which were districts within the region).
- An area of Central and Western district, Hong Kong.
- The best places to find “siu sik” (“small eats” in Cantonese) are in the labyrinthine streets Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui. There is very little of this in sanitized Central.2008 April 16, Joyce Hor-Chung Lau, “What in God’s Name is That? Hong Kong Street Food, Part 1”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 Apr 2023, In Transit
- Last month, L Brands Inc lingerie chain Victoria's Secrets chose to locate its first Hong Kong stores at the mall and the prime downtown district of Central.[…]
- British fashion brand Topshop will open a 14,000 sq ft store in Central in June, paying $516,000 a month in rent.2013 May 20, Donny Kwok, Lavinia Mo, Yimou Lee, Twinnie Siu, “On fleeting Hong Kong trips, Chinese make frugal fashionable”, in Anne Marie Roantree, Miral Fahmy, editors, Reuters, archived from the...
- The Central Line of the London Underground, originally known as the Central London Railway.
- A district of Rasht County, Gilan Province, Iran.
Adjective (2) capitalized: Central
Central (not comparable)
- Of or pertaining to the Central Powers.
- On this score, then, it is quite clear that up to now neither the Entente nor the Central armies have been outmanœuvred, or indeed have invented a weapon of offence that has produced decisive results.1917, National and English Review, volume LXIX, London, page 625
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Central
Central
- A barangay of Kapangan, Benguet, Philippines.
- A barangay of Tarlac City, Tarlac, Philippines.
central meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
central in Hindi
- being in the centre
- केंद्रीय kendrīya
central in Tamil
- மையமான, மையத்திலுள்ள, முக்கியமான, நடுவான, உட்புற, மைய
central in Marathi
- being in the centre
- केंद्रीय kendrīy
central in Urdu
- being in the centre
- مرکزی markazī
More languagesFewer languages
- central in Bengali
- কেন্দ্রীয় kendriẏo
- central in Telugu
- బొడ్డు boḍḍu, మధ్య madhya, కేంద్ర kēndra
- central in Malayalam
- കേന്ദ്രസ്ഥാനത്തുള്ള, കേന്ദ്രത്തെ സംബന്ധിച്ച, മുഖ്യമായ
- central in Kannada
- ನಟ್ಟ, ನಡು, ನಡುವಣ, ಮಧ್ಯದ
- central in Punjabi
- مرکزی markazī, ਕੇਂਦਰੀ kendrī
- central in Sanskrit
- मध्य madhya
- central in Sinhala
- මධ්යම madhyama
- central in Pashto
- منځنی manźanay, مرکزي markazí
- central in Arabic
- مَرْكَزِيّ markaziyy
- central in Malay
- pusat, sentral
- central in Indonesian
- sentral
- central in Persian
- مرکزی markazi
- central in Thai
- ศูนย์กลาง sǔun-glaang, กลาง glaang
- central in Vietnamese
- trung ương
- central in Myanmar
- ဗဟို ba.hui
Examples of central in a sentence
- The plantoid[…]will have a central stem containing a reservoir of liquid plastic of a sort that can be frozen by ultraviolet light.2013 July 27, “Putting down roots”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8846:
- The network had no central ownership or controller; and it did only one thing – transfer data packets from one edge of the network to their destination at another edge.2024 May 4, John Naughton, “The internet is in decline – it needs rewilding”, in The Guardian:
Synonyms of central
Forms of central
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more central |
| superlative | most central |
| superlative | centralmost |
| superlative UK | centremost |
| superlative US | centermost |
| Noun | |
| plural | centrals |
Origin of central
Borrowed from Latin centrālis, from centrum (“centre”), from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron); by surface analysis, centre + -al.
From central.
Borrowed from Spanish Central.
Words formed from central
- acentral
- anterocentral
- Australian Central Daylight Time
- Australian Central Standard Time
- Ballarat Central
- bicentral
- Bundaberg Central
- Canberra Central
- caudocentral
- central adiposity
- Central African Federation
- Central Africa Time
- Central American bushmaster
- Central Anatolia
- central angle
- central bank
- Central Bedfordshire
- Central Bohemian Region
- Central Bridge
- central business district
- central canal
- central casting
- central chimpanzee
- central chi-square distribution
- Central City
- Central Coast
- Central Coaster
- Central Colo
- central committee
- central cord syndrome
- central core disease
- Central Daylight Time
- central defender
- Central Desert
- central determiner
- central dogma
- central door locking
- Central Elgin
- Central European
- Central European Midsummer Time
- Central Europe Time
- central excise
- Central Falls
- central fire
- Central Frontenac
- Central Goldfields
- central government
- central heating
- Central Highlands
- Central Huron
- Centralia
- centralisation
- centralise
- centralish
- Central Islip
- centrality
- centralize
- Central Kootenay
- Central Limit Theorem
- central location test
Phrases with central
- Central Min
- Central Asia
- Central Java
- Central Park
- central pawn
- Central Time
- Central West
- Central Asian
- central banks
- Central Bikol
- Central Delhi
- central fires
143 more phrasesFewer phrases
- Central Khmer
- Central Kings
- Central Labas
- Central Luzon
- Central Otago
- Central Papua
- central pawns
- Central Plain
- Central Point
- central sulci
- Central Tilba
- Central Yupik
- Kongo Central
- North Central
- South Central
- Central Africa
- central angles
- Central Asians
- Central Canada
- central canals
- central cities
- central dogmas
- Central Europe
- Central German
- Central Greece
- Central Massif
- central moment
- Central Plains
- Central Powers
- Central Prince
- central square
- central sulcus
- central vacuum
- Central Valley
- Central Yupiks
- Guisad Central
- Massif Central
- Pahina Central
- Central African
- Central Albania
- Central America
- Central Asiatic
- central bankism
- Central Buyagan
- Central Darling
- central excises
- Central Finland
- Central Germany
- Central Kurdish
- central locking
- central moments
- Central Nahuatl
- Central Plateau
- central spindle
- central vacuums
- Central Vietnam
- Central Village
- Central Visayas
- Bakakeng Central
- Central Africans
- Central American
- Central Asiatics
- Central District
- Central Mangrove
- Central Okanagan
- central planning
- Central Province
- central spindles
- Central Sulawesi
- central tendency
- Central Viet-Nam
- Kinglake Central
- Central Americans
- Central Australia
- Central Equatoria
- Central Europeans
- Central Lithuania
- Central Macdonald
- Central Macedonia
- Central Provinces
- Central Time Zone
- City Camp Central
- Guinzadan Central
- Poblacion Central
- central committees
- Central Franconian
- Central Kalimantan
- Central Manitoulin
- Central Tablelands
- central tendencies
- Central and Western
- central chimpanzees
- central determiners
- central governments
- central reservation
- East Central German
- Mashonaland Central
- San Nicolas Central
- West Central German
- Central Ostrobothnia
- central reservations
- Central Sierra Miwok
- from central casting
- Central Alaskan Yupik
- Central European Time
- central pain syndrome
- central sensitisation
- Central Standard Time
- European Central Bank
- British Central Africa
- Central African Empire
- Central Alaskan Yupiks
- Central American tapir
- Central Asian Ovcharka
- central limit theorems
- central location tests
- Central Mountain Range
- central nervous system
- central retinal artery
- central simple algebra
- North Central Province
- out of central casting
- Central American tapirs
- Central Asian Ovcharkas
- Central Atlas Tamazight
- central nervous systems
- central processing unit
- central simple algebras
- Central African Republic
- Central Federal District
- central processing units
- central retinal arteries
- Central American whiptail
- North Central Aurora Hill
- South Central Aurora Hill
- Central Asian Shepherd Dog
- central business districts
- Central Standard Time Zone
- Central Asian Shepherd Dogs
- measure of central tendency
- Central American bushmasters
- measures of central tendency
- Republic of Central Lithuania
Words that rhyme with central
Questions about central
- What does central mean?
- Central means being in the centre.
- What is central in Hindi?
- Central in Hindi is केंद्रीय (kendrīya). See Central meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use central in a sentence?
- The plantoid[…]will have a central stem containing a reservoir of liquid plastic of a sort that can be frozen by ultraviolet light.
- What part of speech is central?
- Central can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce central?
- Central is pronounced /ˈsɛntɹ(ə)l/.
Words near central in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: central (page history and authors); Central (page history and authors); central (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); కేంద్ర (Telugu) (page history and authors); central (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); central (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); مرکزی (Punjabi) (page history and authors); මධ්යම (Sinhala) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-central.ogg.
Cite this entry: “central.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/central. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.