or nexus
ˈnek-səs
Did you know?
If you’re unfamiliar with the word nexus, the popular, long-running video game series The Legend of Zelda may provide an object lesson in its several definitions (and if you’re unfamiliar with the games, we will explain). When nexus came into English in the 17th century, it meant “connection” or “link.” Eventually, people began using it to refer to a connected group or series of things, as in “a nexus of relationships.” In recent decades it has taken on a third meaning: “center” or “hub,” perhaps from the notion that a point in the center of an arrangement serves to join together the objects that surround it. Now, one might plausibly say that the 20 Zelda games (not counting remakes and spin-offs) themselves form a nexus, as each represents an installment in a long, twisty saga with numerous echoes and callbacks to other games in the series. Most of these feature the fictional land of Hyrule, which often presents magical nexuses to shadowy alternate dimensions (1991’s A Link to the Past), the past (2011’s Skyward Sword), or the underworld (2023’s Tears of the Kingdom) that the hero, Link (ahem) must traverse. As for nexus’s third meaning, Hyrule’s map is nearly always situated around a central nexus, or hub, in the form of the castle where the titular Zelda lives. (If you’re into gaming or curious about its lingo, don’t miss the article “Popular Gaming Terms Explained”).
Examples of nexus in a Sentence
ArsTechnica, 19 May 2025
Film Festival in 2010, has seen the annual event grow into a nexus of Nigerian, African and global filmmaking talents that mirrors the country’s own development in the creative industries.
—Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 18 May 2025
The show chronicles the birth of Rue de la Paix as a luxury nexus, home to now-defunct houses like Paquin, Doucet and Doeuillet, but also jewelers like Cartier, which unofficially joined forces with Worth when Andrée Caroline Worth married Louis Cartier in 1898.
—Joelle Diderich, Footwear News, 7 May 2025
Insects stumble their way into your nexus of sticky silk fibers.
—Lauren Leffer, Popular Science, 24 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for nexus
Cite this Entry
“Nexus.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nexus. Accessed 29 May. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
nexus
noun
or nexus
-səs, -ˌsüs
Legal Definition
nexus
noun
Latin, bond, tie, from nectere to bind
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