concentrate

American  

[kon-suhn-treyt] / ˈkɒn sənˌtreɪt /

verb (used with object)

• concentrates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• concentrated,
  past participle,  past
• concentrating
  present participle

1. to bring or draw to a common center or point of union; converge; direct toward one point; focus.

   to concentrate one's attention on a problem; to concentrate the rays of the sun with a lens.

   Antonyms:

   disperse, dissipate

2. to put or bring into a single place, group, etc..

   The nation's wealth had been concentrated in a few families.

3. to intensify; make denser, stronger, or purer, especially by the removal or reduction of liquid.

   to concentrate fruit juice; to concentrate a sauce by boiling it down.

4. Mining. to separate (metal or ore) from rock, sand, etc., so as to improve the quality of the valuable portion.

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verb (used without object)

• concentrates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• concentrated,
  past participle,  past
• concentrating
  present participle

1. to bring all efforts, faculties, activities, etc., to bear on one thing or activity (often followed by on orupon ).

   to concentrate on solving a problem.

   Antonyms:

   diverge

2. to come to or toward a common center; converge; collect.

   The population concentrated in one part of the city.

3. to become more intense, stronger, or purer.

noun

• concentrates
  plural

1. a concentrated form of something; a product of concentration.

   a juice concentrate.

concentrate British  

/ ˈkɒnsənˌtreɪt /

verb

1. to come or cause to come to a single purpose or aim

   to concentrate one's hopes on winning

2. to make or become denser or purer by the removal of certain elements, esp the solvent of a solution

3. (tr) to remove rock or sand from (an ore) to make it purer

4. to bring one's faculties to bear (on); think intensely (about)

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noun

1. a concentrated material or solution

   tomato concentrate

Synonym Usage

See contract.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• concentrativeness
  noun
• concentrator
  noun
• nonconcentrativeness
  noun
• preconcentrate
  noun
• overconcentrate
  verb
• reconcentrate
  verb
• concentrative
  adjective
• nonconcentrative
  adjective
• unconcentrative
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• concentrates
  plural

Participles

• concentrating
  present
• concentrated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• concentrate
  simple
• concentrates
  simple
• have concentrated
  perfect
• has concentrated
  perfect
• am concentrating
  progressive
• are concentrating
  progressive
• is concentrating
  progressive
• have been concentrating
  perfect progressive
• has been concentrating
  perfect progressive

Past

• concentrated
  simple
• had concentrated
  perfect
• was concentrating
  progressive
• were concentrating
  progressive
• had been concentrating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will concentrate
  simple
• will have concentrated
  perfect
• will be concentrating
  progressive
• will have been concentrating
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of concentrate

First recorded in 1630–40; from French concentr(er) or Italian concentr(are) ( see con-, center) + -ate ¹

Explanation

Concentrate means to make something stronger, denser, or more focused. If you concentrate your energy, for example, you become more powerful! Concentrate your efforts at digging, and you'll plant that shrub a lot faster. You may have seen the words "frozen concentrate" used to describe orange juice. That can of frozen orange goo is the juice in its purest, most condensed form — the concentrate — and it's much stronger and sweeter than the juice you'd drink. Another meaning of the verb concentrate refers to your mental focus. You might need to concentrate on what you're reading in order to understand it. When you concentrate, you strengthen your focus to shut out distractions.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

concentrate concentrates concentrated concentrating

Lower flows can concentrate the very pollution the new data is designed to track, leaving fish and other aquatic life exposed to more dangerous levels.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

The report delivers a stark warning, too: "AI could widen gaps between countries, increase inequality within them, concentrate market power, weaken trust in public institutions, and create new risks for safety, rights, and social cohesion."

From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026

It challenges the idea that prosperity requires us to concentrate decision-making powers in the hands of the few.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 30, 2026

"We are making important progress which will safeguard the future of our game, concentrate resources and give our teams the best chance of achieving success at all levels."

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

Creating active listeners who can focus, concentrate, and direct their attention should be one of the main goals of teaching, and one in which music can play a vital role.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

The focus was on raw concentrates of the rechargeable battery ingredient lithium, with most of its hundreds of thousands of tons of annual production shipped out to China, the world's largest maker of electric vehicles.

From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026

Marine cloud brightening concentrates particles close to Earth's surface in one specific region.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 3, 2026

Mr. Wright, whose own ancestors ran a local newspaper in Georgia, concentrates on those who literally got their hands dirty learning the newspaper game.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

Lamine Yamal prefers to let the media talk the talk while he concentrates on walking the walk, even with the constant Ballon d'Or chatter that has followed him since he was 16.

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026

She concentrates on what her mom has said, and on what Dr. Mann and Malc and Zach and Olivia and Dawn Celeste and Luke have said: Just be honest.

From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti

Ninety-nine percent of metropolitan hospital markets are now considered highly concentrated based on Justice Department guidelines.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

Use it anywhere a little concentrated summer would be welcome: shaken into cocktails or mocktails, stirred into iced matcha or sparkling water, drizzled over gelato or spooned onto yogurt.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

The fund was 23% concentrated to its largest 10 holdings as of June 30.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

The records were concentrated in southern Britain, western France, and northern and eastern Spain.

From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026

He called the molecule nuclein because it was concentrated in a cell’s nucleus.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

"It felt good that someone rather than AI was concentrating on and listening to my story," the 44-year-old said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026

Rather than concentrating only on determining where syphilis originated, the team says future studies should examine how different treponemal diseases evolved alongside human populations, societies and changing environments.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026

In 2017, the US government pulled more than half of its staff from its embassy in Havana after employees and their families reported dizziness, nausea and difficulty concentrating.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

Michelle Pfeiffer’s return to series television after years of concentrating on feature films and her family has paid off in a big way.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

“I’m actually eighteen,” I said, concentrating on my cake again.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall

Related Words

• accumulate
• cluster
• combine
• consolidate
• eliminate
• focus
• integrate
• intensify
• reduce
• strengthen