1The central point, pin, or shaft on which a mechanism turns or oscillates.

1. 1.1usually in singular A person or thing that plays a central part in a situation or enterprise.
   （活动或组织中的）中心人物，关键人物；中心，要点
   the pivot of community life was the chapel

   社区生活的中心是教堂。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Now we all realise exactly how much she meant to us all, a solid pivot of family and cheer.
   • The pivot of this change was the Enlightenment, a time when the rational took ascendance over the mystical.
   • Germany used to be the pivot of the European economy.
   • Later one of Lee's officers would write that ‘the loss of this battle order constitutes one of the pivots on which turned the events of the war’.
   • Sirk, to his everlasting credit, steers her clear of self-parody by making her the pivot of the story.
   • It may also be the pivot of a terrible 10 years for South Africa.
   • Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy, was a crucial pivot of U.S. policy from the 1970s forward.
   • The pivot of this arc of instability is the new state of Timor Leste.
   • These events would seem rather good evidence for the proposition that the Palestinian issue is only one of several important concerns in Middle East politics, not the pivot on which all regional events turn.
   • In fact, the lack of effective and efficient modern justice systems appears to be the pivot on which most Black African problems revolves.
   • It is implicitly, and has been historically, the strategic pivot of the world.
   • Pivot joints allow a rotating or twisting motion, like that of the head moving from side to side.
   • He wavered, his reason rocking on the pivot of his conviction.
   • Washington-based realists tend to see the U.S. as the pivot of the future.
   • For the U.S., Okinawa is the pivot of its East Asian military presence.
   • … In many ways, it is the pivot on which J.K. Rowling's entire tale revolves; the fabric from which the next tale will be woven.
   • No - she had been the pivot of it all, the centre, the core.
   • Interesting facts on the turning pivot of the war - few generals in history had the luck of General George B. McClellan.
   • This is the very pivot of Bush's foreign policy.
   • Mutual trust is the pivot on which the institution rests, he affirms.

   Synonyms

   centre, focal point, focus, central point, hub, heart, nucleus, raison d'être, crux, keystone, cornerstone, linchpin, kingpin
2. 1.2 The person or position from which a body of troops takes its reference point when moving or changing course.
3. 1.3North American A player in a central position in a team sport.
   〈主北美〉中锋
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Kendrick Perkins is already a solid pivotman, so Ainge likely won't trade him.
   • If Wallace is frequently overpowered by some of the league's more gargantuan pivotmen, guarding Jermaine O'Neal is Big Ben's chance to push around someone else.
   • The Caps' other centers - Trevor Linden, Andrei Nikolishin and Trent Whitfield - are decent pivots but not premier playmakers.
   • Among an ever-improving crop of pivotmen, Duncan is still the most dependable and fundamentally sound.
   • Colin Clarke was a pivot of real class, becoming more influential as the game evolved.
   • Miller obviously is a top-drawer pivotman, but he's broken down toward the end of each of his NBA campaigns save for a truncated rookie year.
   • So maybe we're only short one dominant center, and not missing a league full of quality pivots.
   • But he always had a Gretzky or a Mario Lemieux or a Mark Messier ahead of him in the pantheon of NHL pivotmen.
   • But the next wave of pivotmen won't all run the floor and stroke perimeter jumpers.
   • Until injuries abruptly curtailed his career, Willis Reed was a strong, mobile center who could handle brutes like Chamberlain as well as quicker pivotmen.
   • All year, Austin just kept on thumping on the nation's primest pivots, with minimum offensive support and always with a smile.
   • Let's start with the pivotmen currently training with the Yankees down in Tampa.
   • Seattle had just acquired future Hall-of-Famer Patrick Ewing, one of the best pivots in the history of the game.
4. 1.4Basketball A movement in which the player holding the ball may move in any direction with one foot, while keeping the other (the pivot foot) in contact with the floor.
   〔篮球〕持球转身策应
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Dunc is one of the few players in the NBA with a significant go-to move; his inside pivot into the rocker step position off the glass is deadly from 12 to 15 feet.
   • The rear foot becomes the pivot foot, so don't move it if you stop dribbling.
   • Put the ball down hard on the floor, before you pick up your pivot foot.
   • Once you receive the ball the question is often asked by many coaches how and or what pivot foot should you use.
   • As the pivot player makes contact with the floor, he pivots toward the basket, holding the ball high over his head.

1Turn on or as if on a pivot.

他以脚后跟为轴转过身来。

1. 1.1with object Provide (a mechanism) with a pivot; fix (a mechanism) on a pivot.
   （为机械装置）提供枢轴；固定在枢轴上
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The secret was that both sets of wheels are pivoted in the Fairlie principle.
   • A pointer, called an alidade, was pivoted at the centre of the disk.
   • The fourth pushchair was bought a few weeks after the third pushchair after we realised that we'd bought the first one without checking the front wheels were pivoted.
   • You can see the gears that turned to pivot the enormous centre section of the bridge into the air, allowing riverboats to pass underneath.
   • When wall-mounted, an optional mounting bracket pivots the handgun out before the door drops down to present the holster-mounted firearm.
2. 1.2pivot on Depend on.
   〈喻〉取决于，随…转移
   the government's reaction pivoted on the response of the Prime Minister

   政府的反应取决于首相的答复。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • No strategist in either party can predict with authority whether the election will pivot on the economy, foreign policy or a yet unknown factor.
   • The songs pivot on morphing bass lines rather than catchy samples.
   • Altogether, the president's phrase and the media's speculation played out as a kind of orchestrated duet pivoting on ambiguity.
   • Unlike affordability, which mostly pivots on interest rates and household income, appreciation is influenced much more by supply and demand and represents the return on your investment.
   • It pivots on two domains of consciousness that appear to dominate displacement - memory and alienation.
   • It pivots on the mutual affirmation of each other as churches belonging to the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ.
   • There is time yet to revive this Premierleague campaign, but Rangers' Champions League involvement will pivot on the outcome of the next two games.
   • They pivot on a dozen hardened players, but the fringe does not match.
   • Any discussion between Ottawa and the provinces predictably pivots on the issue of funding which level of government should pay for what and how much.
   • It pivoted on two penalties in the last minute of the first half.
   • But presidential nominations can pivot on such accidents of timing.
   • Brian, the whole country is pivoting on what you might call a needle of suspense.
   • The plot pivots on an incident from Mickey's old days on the force, when a young WPC, Roberta Peel, asked him to lose some evidence to keep a community activist's son out of trouble.
   • A regime that pivoted on paranoia slowly consumed itself.
   • Yes, the 2000 primary debates between Al Gore and Bill Bradley pivoted on the fine print in their rival health-care plans.
   • This spectatorship, however - both Scottie's and the audience's - pivots on its dual nature: the act of looking is itself both active and passive at the same time.
   • This has to be understood; her story pivots on this point.
   • The spirited debate about online education pivots on the technological achievements of the past decade.
   • Okay, he drove a silly sports car and wore Prada trainers, but we had a proper conversation, pivoting on a number of diverse subjects, ranging from the importance of Holocaust Memorial Day to contemporary British theatre.
   • Bang Edutainment's whole ethos pivots on the principle of ‘using entertainment to educate people’.

   Synonyms

   depend, hinge, turn, centre, hang, rely, rest, be contingent

   revolve around