Idiom
dead center
Meaning
The exact center.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The target is right in the dead center.”
“He hits the ball in the dead center of the bat.”
“She placed the vase in the dead center of the table so it looked balanced.”
“If you park your car in the dead center of two spaces, other drivers will get very frustrated with you.”
“The teacher writes the main topic in the dead center of the whiteboard before starting the lesson.”
“The hiker realized he was standing in the dead center of a clearing, surrounded by tall pine trees on every side.”
“The architect positioned the grand fountain in the dead center of the courtyard to create a sense of perfect symmetry.”
Examples
simple
“The target is right in the dead center.”
“He hits the ball in the dead center of the bat.”
contextual
“She placed the vase in the dead center of the table so it looked balanced.”
“If you park your car in the dead center of two spaces, other drivers will get very frustrated with you.”
“The teacher writes the main topic in the dead center of the whiteboard before starting the lesson.”
“The hiker realized he was standing in the dead center of a clearing, surrounded by tall pine trees on every side.”
complex
“The architect positioned the grand fountain in the dead center of the courtyard to create a sense of perfect symmetry.”
Origin
The term originates as a variant of the earlier dead-point, used to identify a specific position in the cycle of a piston. In this construction, the adjective dead functions simultaneously to denote an exact location and a state of being without force imparted.
As the piston passes through dead center, there is an instant when the mechanism is neither being pushed nor being pulled. The motion relies entirely on momentum, as the point itself provides no mechanical advantage to the engine.
Key words
Related idioms
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