Link Centre Dictionary

epicentre

epi·centre

UK/ˈɛpɪˌsɛntə/ US/ˈɛpɪˌsɛntɚ/ uncommon

noun

1.

the point on the Earth''s surface directly above the focus of an earthquake

Synonyms

Origin

From epi- (“over, on top”) + centre, from Ancient Greek ἐπί (epí, “on”) + κέντρον (kéntron, “centre”). Sense of “center of an activity (particularly a disaster)” (1908) by generalization from earthquakes, possibly influenced by epidemic.

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.