dead center
3
3.8
- noun
- /dɛd ˈsɛntər/
- US
:
centro exacto
- She placed the piece of art right in the dead center of the living room wall.
- hit dead center
- dead center in the middle
- stood dead center
So it's inside this body, right in the dead center of it, right.
- So it's inside this body, right in the dead center of it, right.
Examples
-
Paul, you hit dead center!
-
A white-gloved doorman, all blue wool and gold buttons and shined shoes, stood dead center and tipped his pillbox hat.
Fiction book (1999) -
So it's inside this body, right in the dead center of it, right.
-
Well, looks like your shot hit dead centre of his heart.
-
I always hit my targets dead center.
-
The stone from the sky had hit the hood dead center.
Fiction book (2001) -
Not all of my shots were dead center; two hit the ring just beyond center, but I was thrilled.
Fiction book (1993) -
The bullet strikes it dead center.
Fiction book (1991) -
Thirty miles east of the Pipeline, it's almost dead center of interior Alaska.
Fiction book (1993) -
So right now we're in the dead center of Harvard Yard, which is where you'll probably go when you first visit Harvard.
Synonyms
679
1.0
The middle point of something that is equally far from all sides
10
3.5
A point exactly halfway between the two ends of a line or the sides of a shape
Antonyms
How Central
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'dead' used as an intensifier meaning completely/exactly with 'center' meaning the middle point, so the overall sense 'exactly in the middle' is directly derivable from its parts. This compositional intensifier + noun pattern is predictable and common, so a B1 learner who knows both words would understand the MWE.
Etymology
Dead center paints the image of a perfect bull's-eye hit; if a shot lands dead (exactly) on the center of a target, it is right in the middle, so the phrase means 'exactly in the middle'.