compress

[kuhm-pres, kom-pres]

verb (used with object)

1. to press together; force into less space.

   Synonyms: constrict, squeeze, condense
   Antonyms: lay, expand

2. to cause to become a solid mass.

   to compress cotton into bales.

3. to condense, shorten, or abbreviate.

   The book was compressed by 50 pages.

4. Computers.,  to reduce the storage space required for (data) by changing its format.

   The algorithm should compress the video file without losing any quality.

noun

1. Medicine/Medical.,  a soft, cloth pad held in place by a bandage and used to provide pressure or to supply moisture, cold, heat, or medication.

2. an apparatus for compressing cotton bales.

3. a warehouse for storing cotton bales before shipment.

compress

verb

1. (tr) to squeeze together or compact into less space; condense

2. computing to apply a compression program to (electronic data) so that it takes up less space

noun

1. a wet or dry cloth or gauze pad with or without medication, applied firmly to some part of the body to relieve discomfort, reduce fever, drain a wound, etc

2. a machine for packing material, esp cotton, under pressure

Other Word Forms

• compressible adjective
• compressibly adverb
• compressingly adverb
• noncompressible adjective
• overcompress verb (used with object)
• precompress verb (used with object)
• uncompressible adjective
• compressibleness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of compress¹

1350–1400; (v.) Middle English (< Middle French compresser ) < Late Latin compressāre, frequentative of Latin comprimere to squeeze together ( com-, press ¹ ); (noun) < Middle French compresse, noun derivative of the v.

Word History and Origins

Origin of compress¹

C14: from Late Latin compressāre, from Latin comprimere, from premere to press

Synonym Study

See contract.

Example Sentences

Entire cities have been lost, “the land beneath them compressed and lowered, so they did not drain, but persisted like glacial lakes.”

From Los Angeles Times

Lossless audio files allow for listeners to stream music using the least compressed and highest resolution audio formats can have, the company said.

From Los Angeles Times

The technology uses the bobbing floaters to compress pistons, which push hydraulic fluid into storage tanks located nearby on land.

From Los Angeles Times

Intermittent fasting compresses eating into a short daily window, often eight hours, leaving a 16-hour gap without food.

From BBC

Historical scholarship on the draft riots is intensive and disputatious; my only concluding point is that they seem to contain all the most painful and contradictory lessons of our nation’s history in compressed form.

From Salon

Related Words

• abbreviate 
• constrict 
• cram 
• restrict 
• shorten 
• shrink 
• squeeze 
• wrap