Core vs. Lore — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman — Updated on December 27, 2023
'Core' refers to the central, most important part of something, be it a physical object or a concept, while 'Lore' denotes the body of traditions and knowledge on a subject, often passed down through generations orally.
Difference Between Core and Lore
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
The term 'core' is used to describe the central or most essential part of an object, concept, or activity. It implies something fundamental and indispensable. In contrast, 'lore' refers to the accumulated knowledge or tradition surrounding a particular subject, often encompassing folklore, myths, and tales.
In a physical context, 'core' can refer to the central part of a fruit or the innermost part of the Earth. In an abstract sense, it denotes the central idea or primary features of a concept or system. 'Lore', however, is specifically about cultural and historical knowledge, encompassing stories, practices, and beliefs.
'Core' is often used in academic and professional contexts, such as the core curriculum in education or the core values of an organization. 'Lore', on the other hand, is deeply rooted in culture and heritage, playing a significant role in defining the identity and practices of a community or group.
While the core is about centrality and foundation, lore is about the richness and depth of cultural and historical understanding. The core is foundational and structural, whereas lore is narrative and informative.
In summary, the core is the central, foundational part of something, often implying its most critical aspects. Lore, in contrast, pertains to the body of knowledge and tradition, particularly those passed down through stories and cultural practices.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
The central or most important part of something.
The body of knowledge and traditions on a subject.
Context
Physical objects, concepts, systems.
Cultural, historical knowledge and traditions.
Usage
Academic, professional, scientific.
Cultural, historical, folkloric.
Nature
Foundational, structural.
Narrative, informative.
Purpose
To denote centrality, importance, foundation.
To preserve and transmit cultural and historical knowledge.
Compare with Definitions
Core
The central or most important part.
The core of his argument was sound and well-reasoned.
Lore
The body of traditions and knowledge on a subject.
The lore of the sea was fascinating to the young sailor.
Core
The foundation or essential part.
Honesty is at the core of their company values.
Lore
Stories or anecdotes that contribute to a group's identity.
Local lore had it that the forest was enchanted.
Core
The innermost part of something.
The Earth's core is composed of iron and nickel.
Lore
Accumulated facts, traditions, or beliefs about a particular subject.
Ancient lore often contains wisdom relevant today.
Core
In fruit, the central part containing seeds.
She removed the apple core before slicing it.
Lore
Accumulated knowledge or beliefs held by a group about a subject, especially when passed from generation to generation by oral tradition.
Core
In exercise, the central muscles of the body.
Core workouts are essential for overall strength.
Lore
Knowledge or tradition passed down orally.
The village's lore was passed down through generations.
Core
The central or innermost part
A rod with a hollow core.
The hard elastic core of a baseball.
Lore
The collective myths and legends of a culture.
She studied the lore of ancient civilizations.
Core
The hard or fibrous central part of certain fruits, such as the apple or pear, containing the seeds.
Lore
The space between the eye and the base of the bill of a bird or between the eye and nostril of a snake.
Core
The basic or most important part; the crucial element or essence
A small core of dedicated supporters.
The core of the problem.
Lore
All the facts and traditions about a particular subject that have been accumulated over time through education or experience.
The lore of the Ancient Egyptians
Core
A set of subjects or courses that make up a required portion of a curriculum.
Lore
The backstory created around a fictional universe.
Core
(Electricity) A soft iron rod in a coil or transformer that provides a path for and intensifies the magnetic field produced by the windings.
Lore
(obsolete) Workmanship.
Core
(Computers) A obsolete form of memory consisting of an array of tiny doughnut-shaped masses of magnetic material.
Lore
(anatomy) The region between the eyes and nostrils of birds, reptiles, and amphibians.
Core
One of the magnetic doughnut-shaped masses that make up such a memory. Also called magnetic core.
Lore
(anatomy) The anterior portion of the cheeks of insects.
Core
The central portion of the earth below the mantle, beginning at a depth of about 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) and probably consisting of iron and nickel. It is made up of a liquid outer core and a solid inner core.
Lore
The space between the eye and bill, in birds, and the corresponding region in reptiles and fishes.
Core
A similar central portion of a celestial body.
Lore
That which is or may be learned or known; the knowledge gained from tradition, books, or experience; often, the whole body of knowledge possessed by a people or class of people, or pertaining to a particular subject; as, the lore of the Egyptians; priestly lore; legal lore; folklore.
His fair offspring, nursed in princely lore.
Core
A mass of dry sand placed within a mold to provide openings or shape to a casting.
Lore
That which is taught; hence, instruction; wisdom; advice; counsel.
If please ye, listen to my lore.
Core
A reactor core.
Lore
Workmanship.
Core
A cylindrical sample of rock, ice, or other material obtained from the interior of a mass by drilling or cutting.
Lore
Lost.
Neither of them she found where she them lore.
Core
The base or innermost part, such as soft or inferior wood, surrounded by an outer part or covering, such as veneer wood.
Lore
Knowledge gained through tradition or anecdote;
Early peoples passed on plant and animal lore through legend
Core
(Archaeology) A stone from which one or more flakes have been removed, serving as a source for such flakes or as a tool itself.
Core
(Anatomy) The muscles in the trunk of the human body, including those of the abdomen and chest, that stabilize the spine, pelvis, and shoulders.
Core
To remove the core or innermost part from
Core apples.
Core
To remove (a cylindrical sample) from something, such as a glacier.
Core
To remove a cylindrical sample from (a glacier or soil layer, for example).
Core
To remove small plugs of sod from (turf) in order to aerate it.
Core
To form or build with a base or innermost part consisting of a different substance from that of the covering or outer part
A fiberglass boat deck that is cored with wood.
Core
Of basic importance; essential
“Virtually all cultures around the world use the word heart to describe anything that is core, central, or foundational” (Robert A. Emmons).
Core
(Anatomy) Of or relating to the muscles of the trunk of the human body
A core workout.
Core
In general usage, an essential part of a thing surrounded by other essential things.
Core
The central part of a fruit, containing the kernels or seeds.
The core of an apple or quince
Core
The heart or inner part of a physical thing.
Core
The anatomical core, muscles which bridge abdomen and thorax.
Core
The center or inner part of a space or area.
Core
The most important part of a thing or aggregate of things wherever located and whether of any determinate location at all; the essence.
The core of a subject
Core
A technical term for classification of things denoting those parts of a category that are most easily or most likely understood as within it.
Core
Particular parts of technical instruments or machines essential in function:
Core
(engineering) The portion of a mold that creates an internal cavity within a casting or that makes a hole in or through a casting.
Core
Ellipsis of core memory; magnetic data storage.
Core
(computer hardware) An individual computer processor, in the sense when several processors (called cores or CPU cores) are plugged together in one single integrated circuit to work as one (called a multi-core processor).
I wanted to play a particular computer game, which required I buy a new computer, so while the game said it needed at least a dual-core processor, I wanted my computer to be a bit ahead of the curve, so I bought a quad-core.
Core
(engineering) The material between surface materials in a structured composite sandwich material.
A floor panel with a Nomex honeycomb core
Core
The inner part of a nuclear reactor, in which the nuclear reaction takes place.
Core
(military) The central fissile portion of a fission weapon.
In a hollow-core design, neutrons escape from the core more readily, allowing more fissile material to be used (and thus allowing for a greater yield) while still keeping the core subcritical prior to detonation.
Core
A piece of ferromagnetic material (e.g., soft iron), inside the windings of an electromagnet, that channels the magnetic field.
Core
(printing) A hollow cylindrical piece of cardboard around which a web of paper or plastic is wound.
Core
Hence particular parts of a subject studied or examined by technical operations, likened by position and practical or structural robustness to kernels, cores in the most vulgar sense above.
Core
(medicine) A tiny sample of organic material obtained by means of a fine-needle biopsy.
Core
The bony process which forms the central axis of the horns in many animals.
Core
A disorder of sheep caused by worms in the liver.
Core
(biochemistry) The central part of a protein's structure, consisting mostly of hydrophobic amino acids.
Core
A cylindrical sample of rock or other materials obtained by core drilling.
Core
(physics) An atomic nucleus plus inner electrons (i.e., an atom, except for its valence electrons).
Core
(obsolete) A body of individuals; an assemblage.
Core
A miner's underground working time or shift.
Core
: a former Hebrew and Phoenician unit of volume.
Core
A deposit paid by the purchaser of a rebuilt part, to be refunded on return of a used, rebuildable part, or the returned rebuildable part itself.
Core
Forming the most important or essential part.
Core
To remove the core of an apple or other fruit.
Core
To cut or drill through the core of (something).
Core
To extract a sample with a drill.
Core
A body of individuals; an assemblage.
He was in a core of people.
Core
A miner's underground working time or shift.
Core
A Hebrew dry measure; a cor or homer.
Core
The heart or inner part of a thing, as of a column, wall, rope, of a boil, etc.; especially, the central part of fruit, containing the kernels or seeds; as, the core of an apple or quince.
A fever at the core,Fatal to him who bears, to all who ever bore.
Core
The center or inner part, as of an open space; as, the core of a square.
Core
The most important part of a thing; the essence; as, the core of a subject; - also used attributively, as the core curriculum at a college.
Core
The portion of a mold which shapes the interior of a cylinder, tube, or other hollow casting, or which makes a hole in or through a casting; a part of the mold, made separate from and inserted in it, for shaping some part of the casting, the form of which is not determined by that of the pattern.
Core
A disorder of sheep occasioned by worms in the liver.
Core
The bony process which forms the central axis of the horns in many animals.
Core
A mass of iron or other ferrous metal, forming the central part of an electromagnet, such as those upon which the conductor of an armature, a transformer, or an induction coil is wound.
Core
A sample of earth or rock extracted from underground by a drilling device in such a manner that the layers of rock are preserved in the same order as they exist underground; as, to drill a core; to extract a core. The sample is typically removed with a rotating drill bit having a hollow center, and is thus shaped like a cylinder.
Core
The main working memory of a digital computer system, which typically retains the program code being executed as well as the data structures that are manipulated by the program. Contrasted to ROM and data storage device.
Core
The central part of the earth, believed to be a sphere with a radius of about 2100 miles, and composed primarily of molten iron with some nickel. It is distinguished from the crust and mantle.
Core
The central part of a nuclear reactor, containing the fissionable fuel.
Core
To take out the core or inward parts of; as, to core an apple.
He's like a corn upon my great toe . . . he must be cored out.
Core
To form by means of a core, as a hole in a casting.
Core
To extract a cylindrical sample from, with a boring device. See core{8}.
Core
The center of an object;
The ball has a titanium core
Core
A small group of indispensable persons or things;
Five periodicals make up the core of their publishing program
Core
The central part of the Earth
Core
The choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience;
The gist of the prosecutor's argument
The heart and soul of the Republican Party
The nub of the story
Core
A cylindrical sample of soil or rock obtained with a hollow drill
Core
An organization founded by James Leonard Farmer in 1942 to work for racial equality
Core
The central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work
Core
The chamber of a nuclear reactor containing the fissile material where the reaction takes place
Core
A bar of magnetic material (as soft iron) that passes through a coil and serves to increase the inductance of the coil
Core
Remove the core or center from;
Core an apple
Common Curiosities
How is lore different from history?
Lore includes myths and legends, while history is based on documented and factual events.
Can core values change in an organization?
Core values are generally stable but can evolve as an organization grows or changes.
Is lore always based on truth?
Lore often blends truth with myth, focusing more on cultural significance than factual accuracy.
What is a core workout?
A core workout targets the body's central muscles, enhancing stability and strength.
What is the significance of lore in culture?
Lore is significant in culture as it preserves and transmits traditions, beliefs, and stories.
Why is folklore important?
Folklore is important for preserving cultural identity and heritage.
How do you determine a company's core competencies?
Core competencies are determined by identifying unique strengths and capabilities that give a company an advantage.
How is lore transmitted in societies?
Lore is often transmitted orally through stories, songs, and rituals.
Are there different types of lore?
Yes, there are various types of lore, including urban, historical, and folkloric.
What does 'core' mean in education?
In education, 'core' refers to the essential subjects or skills that form the foundation of learning.
What does 'core' mean in computing?
In computing, a 'core' refers to a processor within a computer's CPU that can independently execute tasks.
Can lore be found in modern societies?
Yes, modern societies have their own lore, often reflecting contemporary values and experiences.
What is the core in fruit?
The core in fruit is the central part containing the seeds and harder material.
What's the relationship between core strength and balance?
Strong core muscles improve balance and stability in physical activities.
What does 'core' mean in a business strategy?
In business strategy, 'core' refers to the primary area of focus or the main activities that define a business.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
