concentrate

[kon-suhn-treyt]

verb (used with object)

concentrated, concentrating 

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.

verb (used without object)

concentrated, concentrating 

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

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

   a juice concentrate.

concentrate

/ 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)

noun

1. a concentrated material or solution

   tomato concentrate

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of concentrate¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of concentrate¹

C17: back formation from _{concentration} , ultimately from Latin com- same + centrum _centre

Synonym Study

See contract.

Example Sentences

Nigeria is home to about 240 million people, around half of them Muslims, concentrated in the north, and half of them Christians, generally in the south.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"Instead of you concentrating on your grief and your despair and your desperation for that person, you're now in a different role."

Read more on BBC

As Earth's metallic core formed, elements such as iron and molybdenum migrated inward and became concentrated there, leaving the mantle with much lower amounts.

Read more on Science Daily

In fact, defending in some ways has taken a massive step backwards, as more and more coaches concentrate solely on possession.

Read more on BBC

This is one reason Alphabet, which has concentrated on corporate sales of existing products, has been virtually immune to the selloff.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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