noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The focus of an earthquake, directly under the epicentre.
2. 2
   The point on the surface below an atmospheric explosion; ground zero

Synonyms

All synonyms

hypocenter

Antonyms

All antonyms

epicentre

Etymology

From hypo- + centre; from Ancient Greek ὑπο- (hupo-, “under-, sub-”) and Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron, “centre”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.