Meaning of nucleus in English

nucleus

noun [ C ]

/ˈnuː.kli.əs/ uk

/ˈnjuː.kli.əs/

plural nuclei us/ˈnuː.kli.aɪ/ uk/ˈnjuː.kli.aɪ/ nucleuses

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physics specialized

the central part of an atom, usually made up of protons and neutrons

KTSDesign/SCIENCEPHOTOLIBRARY/GettyImages

biology specialized

the part of a cell that controls its growth:

DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.

CHRISTOPH BURGSTEDT/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/GettyImages

the nucleus of something

the group of people or things that are the most important part of something:

These three players will form the nucleus of a revised and stronger team.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Cells

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Physics: atoms, molecules & sub-atomic particles

(Definition of nucleus from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

nucleus | Intermediate English

nucleus

noun [ C ]

/ˈnu·kli·əs/

plural nuclei us/ˈnu·kliˌɑɪ/

Add to word list Add to word list

the central part of something

People or things that form the nucleus of something are the most important part of it:

These two people will form the nucleus of a new management team to promote sales in South America.

physics

A nucleus is the central part of an atom.

biology

A nucleus is the central part of a cell that controls its growth.

(Definition of nucleus from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of nucleus

nucleus

Moving a physical system -- a decaying atomic nucleus, for example -- an arbitrary distance shouldn't affect the decay behavior.

From Ars Technica

When a beryllium-8 nucleus undergoes a transition, it sheds energy and typically photon, which occasionally decays into an electron and a positron.

From Phys.Org

Such oscillations occur naturally as the irregular nucleus rotates about its spin axis and reflects different amounts of sunlight during a rotation cycle.

From Phys.Org

We streak like superheroes past suns and solar systems, we dive through shoals of quarks and atomic nuclei.

From TIME

The nucleus of an atom can have different shapes that co-exist.

From Phys.Org

You have to have the right number of antimatter baryons of the right types traveling near each other for a nucleus to condense.

From Ars Technica

The results showed differences in two brain areas associated with emotion, motivation and reward processing -- the amygdala and the nucleus accumbens.

From CBS News

The beams of magnesium nuclei were produced by first bombarding a high-energy beam of calcium nuclei against a thin beryllium target.

From Phys.Org

Occasionally, a large enough blob, known as a critical nucleus, emerges and is stable enough to grow rather than to melt.

From Phys.Org

And that's the nucleus of a feral colony.

From NPR

The nucleus of this comet is quite small, so these jets are acting like rocket engines, making the comet spin faster and faster.

From Gizmodo

Under normal circumstances, it sits in the nucleus and -- among other things -- inhibits the expression of genes that deal with stress responses.

From Phys.Org

The electron, instead, would spiral into the nucleus almost immediately, at least according to classical electromagnetism.

From NPR

And now, we know that our spiral galaxy, along with millions of other galaxies, is orbiting around some other nucleus.

From National Geographic

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with nucleus

nucleus

These are words often used in combination with nucleus.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

active nucleus

The branch has become the forum not of the rank and file but of an active nucleus dominated by a hard core centre.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

caudate nucleus

Translating, when compared to reading, activated mainly the anterior cingulate and bilateral subcortical structures (the putamen and the head of the caudate nucleus).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

comet nucleus

The impact crater that would have decided between a gravity-dominated versus a strength-dominated comet nucleus was not seen because so much dust was kicked up from the regolith.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with nucleus

What is the pronunciation of nucleus?

What is the pronunciation of nuclei?