Omphalos
//ˈɒmfəlɒs// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An ancient religious stone artifact, or baetylus, used to denote the direction of the "center" of the world.
- 2 a scar where the umbilical cord was attached wordnet
- 3 The theological proposition that the world was created with certain indicia of a history which had not actually occurred (such as the humans who had never been connected to umbilical cords being created with navels).
- 4 The navel.
- 5 A raised central point; a boss.
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- 6 The center or hub.
"—Rather bleak in wintertime, I should say. Martello you call it? —Billy Pitt had them built, Buck Mulligan said, when the French were on the sea. But ours is the omphalos."
Example
More examples"—Rather bleak in wintertime, I should say. Martello you call it? —Billy Pitt had them built, Buck Mulligan said, when the French were on the sea. But ours is the omphalos."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ὀμφαλός (omphalós, “navel”). Doublet of navel.
Related phrases
More for "omphalos"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.