Omphalos
[äm-fə-ləs]
Part of speech: noun
Origin: Greek, 19th century
1.
A central or focal point
2.
Navel
Examples of Omphalos in a sentence
"The omphalos of his speech was a story about his rough childhood growing up in Ukraine."
"Can you get to the omphalos of all this before I lose patience?"
About Omphalos
The filibuster is a legally-protected form of avoiding the omphalos of a discussion in Congress. It's used to delay votes by allowing a Senator to refuse to yield their speaking time. Some filibusters have lasted longer than 24 hours.
Did you Know?
Omphalos refers to the center of activity, and, in Greek, it derives from the center of the human body—the navel, or umbilicus. It shares the same roots with what we call the umbilical cord.
