cen·ter·piece

[sen-ter-pees]
noun
1.
an ornamental object used in a central position, especially on the center of a dining-room table.
2.
the central or outstanding point or feature: The centerpiece of the evening was a play put on by the employees.

Origin:
1830–40; center + piece

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

centerpiece
1803, from center + piece. Fig. sense is recorded from 1937.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
00:10
Centerpiece is always a great word to know.
So is slumgullion. Does it mean:
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
Example sentences
Think about the scene that serves as the book's centerpiece.
Bush reappoints a consensus builder to a centerpiece job.
Any one shot from this would have been the centerpiece effect of a movie ten
  years ago.
As you walk through, and check out the exquisitely carved pulpit, the
  centerpiece of the building.
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