nucleus

nucleus

noun

Definition of NUCLEUS

1

a thing or place that is of greatest importance to an activity or interest <a college campus that was a nucleus of opposition to the war>

Synonyms axis, base, capital, central, core, cynosure, epicenter, eye, focus, ground zero, heart, hub, locus, mecca, navel, nerve center, nexus, nucleus, omphalos, seat

Related Words headquarters; happy hunting ground, hive, hotbed, hot spot, playground, playland; kernel, nub, pith; deep, thick; essence, quintessence, soul; attraction, lodestone (also loadstone), magnet, polestar

2

the central part or aspect of something under consideration <the nucleus of the movement's methodology has always been passive resistance>

Synonyms bottom line, bull's-eye, centerpiece, core, essence, gist, heart, kernel, keynote, meat, meat and potatoes, net, nub, nubbin, nucleus, pith, pivot, point, root, sum

Related Words course, direction, drift, tenor; body, content, substance; hypothesis, proposition, purport, subject, theme, thesis