centraladjective
uk/ˈsen.trəl/us/ˈsen.trəl/central adjective (NEAR THE MIDDLE)
B1 in, at, from, or near the centre or most important part of something:
central Europe/London
Of course, you pay more for premises with a central location (= in or near the centre of a town).
More examples
- Some late news has just come in - a bomb has exploded in central London.
- In many churches the side aisles are separated from the central aisle by a row of arches.
- The bridge's central support gave way, tipping the coach into the river.
- The large central diamond is surrounded by eight smaller stones.
- I love the wide open spaces of central Australia.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Centres of objects
- bowel
- center
- center of gravity
- centrality
- centrally
- centre
- centre of gravity
- core
- hub
- inner ring
- innermost
- inside
- interior
- median
- mid
- middle
- midpoint
- midway
- off-centre
- the bowels of sth idiom
central adjective (IMPORTANT)
C2 main or important:
a central role
Community involvement is central to our plan.
More examples
- I failed to grasp the film's central concept.
- Eugenics was the central, and most controversial, part of his social philosophy.
- The central character of the play is a flaky neurotic.
- The central argument of the book is that some of the plays were not written by Shakespeare.
- The central character is a malevolent witch out for revenge.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Important and essential things
- -based
- amenity
- be-all
- big league
- biggie
- building block
- flagship
- heavyweight
- hot button
- kernel
- keynote
- keystone
- lifeblood
- nucleus
- pivot
- prerequisite
- priority
- requisite
- sine qua non
- supply
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central adjective (ORGANIZATION)
C1 [ before noun ] controlled or organized in one main place:
central authorities
the US central bank
central planning
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Managing and organizing
- act
- administer
- administration
- bureaucracy
- bureaucratic
- campaign
- head sth up
- in hand idiom
- kaizen
- manage
- management
- mind the store idiom
- run the show idiom
- running
- shakedown
- square
- square sth/sb away
- stage
- stage-manage
- stewardship
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