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# epicentre

«epicentre» in Mova's school dictionary: **the point on the Earth's surface right above where an…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (an epicentre, epicentres) — UK spelling; US epicenter

### meaning for a pupil

1) The epicentre is the point on the Earth's surface right above where an earthquake starts underground. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/epicentre/#m1)

2) The epicentre of something is its centre, where it is strongest or busiest. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/epicentre/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In geography and science lessons: the epicentre of an earthquake, shaking is strongest near it. In news and everyday talk: the epicentre of a storm, of the fun, of a problem. Phrases: the epicentre of, near the epicentre, epicentre of the earthquake.

### examples

- The epicentre of the earthquake was under a small town. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/epicentre/#x1)
- Houses near the epicentre were badly damaged. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/epicentre/#x2)
- Scientists found the epicentre using readings from three places. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/epicentre/#x3)
- Our kitchen is the epicentre of family life. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/epicentre/#x4)
- The city was the epicentre of the floods. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/epicentre/#x5)
- The shaking was weaker far from the epicentre. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/epicentre/#x6)

### note

Spelling: UK, Australia, NZ, Ireland, Canada epicentre; US epicenter. The focus is underground; the epicentre is on the surface above it. In maths: distances from the epicentre are measured in kilometres; damage usually drops as distance grows.

### In the corpora

- [The place underground where the slip starts is the focus, and the point on the surface right above it is the epicentre.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/62-volcanoes-and-earthquakes/5/)
- [The epicentre is the point on the surface directly above where an earthquake starts.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/62-volcanoes-and-earthquakes/14/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «epicentre» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/epicentre/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.