"nucleus" in the noun sense
1. nucleus, cell nucleus, karyon
a part of the cell containing DNA and RNA and responsible for growth and reproduction
2. nucleus
the positively charged dense center of an atom
3. core, nucleus, core group
a small group of indispensable persons or things
"five periodicals make up the core of their publishing program"
4. nucleus
astronomy) the center of the head of a comet consists of small solid particles of ice and frozen gas that vaporizes on approaching the sun to form the coma and tail
5. nucleus
any histologically identifiable mass of neural cell bodies in the brain or spinal cord
6. lens nucleus, nucleus
the central structure of the lens that is surrounded by the cortex
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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