nerve center

noun

1

: center sense 2c

2

: a source of leadership, organization, control, or energy

the financial nerve center of the nation

Synonyms

• axis
• base
• capital
• center
• central
• core
• cynosure
• epicenter
• eye
• focus
• ground zero
• heart
• hub
• locus
• mecca
• navel
• nexus
• nucleus
• omphalos
• seat

Examples of nerve center in a Sentence

the economic nerve center of a nation

Wall Street's undisputed status as the nerve center for the world of high finance.

Recent Examples on the Web

Singhania and his colleagues monitor each team’s hardware using computers on Bosch’s race-day trailer, a mobile nerve center hardwired to the organizers’ control center on the race track. —IEEE Spectrum, 24 June 2024

In the middle is the nerve center of that world: 420 West Broadway, where Leo Castelli, Sonnabend, John Weber, and Charles Cowels galleries were located. —Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 13 Nov. 2024

Sealing the spacecraft’s vault—its nerve center—is a plate forged from tantalum metal. —Nadia Drake, Scientific American, 14 Oct. 2024

The cameras are monitored by officers watching a bank of screens at a downtown headquarters nerve center. —Ken Dilanian, NBC News, 2 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1868, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

nerve center

noun

: center entry 1 sense 2c

Medical Definition

nerve center

noun

: center