central
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Being very important, or key to something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sehntruhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɛntɹəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Being very important, or key to something.
Having or containing the centre of something.
Being in the centre.
Of an element of an algebraic structure: which commutes with all other elements under multiplication
noun
The Central Line of the London Underground, originally known as the Central London Railway.
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.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Being very important, or key to something.
Used this way, central is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use central
- “The central idea of the book was quite thought-provoking.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Essential; extremely important.
Indispensable, supremely important.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A person who takes a position in the political center.
The center of mass of an object of uniform density.
In or near or toward a center or according to a central role or function.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A landlocked country in central Africa.
A landlocked country in central Africa.
The basic unit of money in the Central African Republic.
The isthmus joining North America and South America.
Of or relating to or characteristic of Central America or its people or languages.
Any one of the countries occupying Central America.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A low-lying region in central France.
Drawn toward a center or brought under the control of a central authority.
Drawn toward a center or brought under the control of a central authority.
The property of being central.
The act of consolidating power under a central control.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: central Line of the London Underground
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.