nub

/nəb/

/nəb/

Other forms: nubs

A nub is a little piece of something, especially one that sticks out. The raised rubber buttons on your TV remote control are nubs.

Tiny lumps or bits are nubs, like the nubs on tree branches that will become buds in the spring, or the nubs on a crocheted blanket, little woven bumps. Another kind of nub is the heart or essence of something: one incriminating piece of evidence might be the nub of a judge's decision in a case. The "lump" meaning is older, stemming from knob, while the "essence" meaning dates from the nineteenth century.

Definitions of nub

1. noun

   a small lump or protuberance
   synonyms: nubble

   type of:

   bulge, bump, excrescence, extrusion, gibbosity, gibbousness, hump, jut, prominence, protrusion, protuberance, swelling

   something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from its surroundings
2. noun

   a small piece
   “a nub of coal”

   synonyms: stub

   types:

   nubbin

   a small nub (especially an undeveloped fruit or ear of corn)

   type of:

   part, piece

   a portion of a natural object
3. noun

   the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience
   “the nub of the story”

   synonyms: center, centre, core, essence, gist, heart, heart and soul, inwardness, kernel, marrow, meat, nitty-gritty, pith, substance, sum

   types:

   bare bones

   (plural) the most basic facts or elements

   hypostasis

   (metaphysics) essential nature or underlying reality

   haecceity, quiddity

   the essence that makes something the kind of thing it is and makes it different from any other

   distillation, quintessence

   the purest and most concentrated essence of something

   stuff

   a critically important or characteristic component

   type of:

   cognitive content, content, mental object

   the sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned