as in center
a thing or place that is of greatest importance to an activity or interest
during the Vietnam War the university's campus effectively became the area's omphalos for antiwar activity
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of omphalos
While the temples have crumbled, seeing the omphalos gave me goose bumps, and left me awe-struck over Delphi’s sublime place in history.
—
Liz Alderman, New York Times, 9 July 2019
Zeus marked the spot with a stone called the omphalos (navel), to signify the location’s centrality.
—National Geographic, 12 Mar. 2019
Liz Alderman, New York Times, 9 July 2019
Zeus marked the spot with a stone called the omphalos (navel), to signify the location’s centrality.
—National Geographic, 12 Mar. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for omphalos
Noun
-
About 80 warming centers were opened across the state, known as one of the nation's poorest.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
30 Jan. 2026
-
On the company’s earnings call, analysts asked CEO Tim Cook several questions about Apple’s access to memory components, which have seen their prices skyrocket due to demand related to chips necessary for artificial intelligence data centers.—
Kif Leswing,
CNBC,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Some of Thursday’s decline was related to Wall Street not being happy with how much the company was spending on investments for the future (capital expenditures), and the cloud business Azure may not have done as well as some hoped.—
Jason Gewirtz,
CNBC,
30 Jan. 2026
-
However, some oil executives have expressed discomfort with the idea of sending capital into Venezuela.—
Moriah Thomas,
CNN Money,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The Lane Bryant store is now gone, the shopping center on the far west side of Tinley Park has blossomed and life in the southwest suburb now known as an entertainment mecca goes on.—
Donna Vickroy,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Jan. 2026
-
The Bay Area is a mecca for social dancing, from salsa to line dancing to modern ballroom, said Richard Powers, a choreographer and dance historian who teaches social dance classes at Stanford University.—
Martha Ross,
Mercury News,
24 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Retail stores, bars and restaurants have been transformed into mutual aid hubs.—
Alicia Wallace,
CNN Money,
24 Jan. 2026
-
Sitting in the heart of northeast Minneapolis's business district, the coffee shop has become a hub for people opposing ICE.—
Reg Chapman,
CBS News,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Some could have been as small as an atomic nucleus.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
23 Jan. 2026
-
During a nuclear collision, nuclei can absorb and emit a vast number of these lower-energy photons.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Alessandra Rich designed Johnson's strapless black gown, which features an ultra plunging neckline, hip cutouts, a thigh-high slit skirt, and a bow embellishment at the navel.—
Hannah Malach,
InStyle,
16 Jan. 2026
-
These topical patches stick to the back of your ear or around your navel and release a natural blend of essential oils to relieve nausea.—
Amelia McBride,
Travel + Leisure,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Ben Hania’s interest is in how the women got there, searching for the locus through interviews with the mother and younger children.—
E. Alex Jung,
Vulture,
11 Dec. 2025
-
Only when the mind, rather than the body or the soul, was seen as the true locus of danger did confinement become the preferred solution.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
8 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Omphalos.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/omphalos. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
