nub
noun/nʌb/
/nʌb/
[singular]- the nub (of something) the central or essential point of a situation, problem, etc.
- The nub of the matter is that business is declining.
- She’s too selfish to help. That’s the nub.
Word Originlate 17th cent.: apparently a variant of dialect knub ‘protuberance’, from Middle Low German knubbe, knobbe ‘knob’.Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
Check pronunciation:
nub