centre

Universal Words (BrE) (AmE center) noun, verb noun [VN] middle 1 [C] the middle point or part of sth: the centre of a circle * a long table in the centre of the room * chocolates with soft centres town / city 2 [C] (especially BrE) (AmE usually downtown [usuallysing.]) the main part of a town or city where there are a lot of shops/stores and offices: in the town / city centre * the centre of town * a town centre car park 3 [C] a place or an area where a lot of people live; a place where a lot of business or cultural activity takes place: major urban / industrial centres * a centre of population * Small towns in South India serve as economic and cultural centres for the surrounding villages. building 4 [C] a building or place used for a particular purpose or activity: a shopping / sports / leisure / community centre * the Centre for Policy Studies of excellence 5 [C] ~ of excellence a place where a particular kind of work is done extremely well: Darlington could become a regional centre of excellence for nursery nurse training. of attention 6 [C,usually sing.] the point towards which people direct their attention: Children like to be the centre of attention. * The prime minister is at the centre of a political row over leaked Cabinet documents. -centred 7 (in adjectives) having the thing mentioned as the most important feature or FOCUS (= point) of attention: a child-centred approach to teaching seealsoSELF-CENTRED in politics 8 (usually the centre) [sing.] a MODERATE (= middle) political position or party, between the extremes of LEFT-WING and RIGHT-WING parties: a party of the centre * Are her views to the left or right of centre? * a centre party in sport 9 [C] = CENTREFORWARD IDIOMS see FRONTn., LEFTadv. verb [VN] to move sth so that it is in the centre of sth else: Carefully centre the photograph on the page and stick it in place. PHRASALVERBS centre around / on / round / upon sb/sth