Nucleus
noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 The core, central part of something, around which other elements are assembled.
"Situated in the centre of the largest agricultural basin in northern Formosa, T’ai-pei (population in 1964 was estimated to be 1,117,000) forms the nucleus of a major industrial area. The T’ai-pei industrial complex includes light and heavy industies within the urbanized area and also in several industrial suburbs, including Pan-ch’iao and Nan-chiang."
- 2 the central structure of the lens that is surrounded by the cortex wordnet
- 3 An initial part or version that will receive additions.
"This collection will form the nucleus of a new library."
- 4 a part of the cell containing DNA and RNA and responsible for growth and reproduction wordnet
- 5 The massive, positively charged central part of an atom, made up of protons and neutrons.
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- 6 any histologically identifiable mass of neural cell bodies in the brain or spinal cord wordnet
- 7 A large membrane-enclosed organelle found in eukaryotic cells which contains genetic material.
- 8 a small group of indispensable persons or things wordnet
- 9 A ganglion, cluster of many neuronal bodies where synapsing occurs.
- 10 the positively charged dense center of an atom wordnet
- 11 The central part of a syllable, most commonly a vowel.
- 12 (astronomy) the center of the head of a comet; consists of small solid particles of ice and frozen gas that vaporizes on approaching the sun to form the coma and tail wordnet
- 13 A small bee-hive used to create a colony from a larger existing one.
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"You two are the nucleus of the team."
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin nucleus (“kernel, core”). The earliest uses refer to the head of a comet and the kernel of a seed, both recorded in Lexicon Technicum in 1704. The sense in atomic physics was coined by British scientist Michael Faraday in 1844 in a theoretical meaning.