concentrate
Americanverb (used with object)
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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.
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to put or bring into a single place, group, etc..
The nation's wealth had been concentrated in a few families.
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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.
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Mining. to separate (metal or ore) from rock, sand, etc., so as to improve the quality of the valuable portion.
verb (used without object)
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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
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to come to or toward a common center; converge; collect.
The population concentrated in one part of the city.
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to become more intense, stronger, or purer.
noun
verb
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to come or cause to come to a single purpose or aim
to concentrate one's hopes on winning
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to make or become denser or purer by the removal of certain elements, esp the solvent of a solution
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(tr) to remove rock or sand from (an ore) to make it purer
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to bring one's faculties to bear (on); think intensely (about)
noun
Synonym Usage
See contract.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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concentrativenessnoun
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concentratornoun
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nonconcentrativenessnoun
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preconcentratenoun
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overconcentrateverb
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reconcentrateverb
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concentrativeadjective
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nonconcentrativeadjective
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unconcentrativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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concentratesimple
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concentratessimple
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have concentratedperfect
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has concentratedperfect
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am concentratingprogressive
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are concentratingprogressive
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is concentratingprogressive
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have been concentratingperfect progressive
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has been concentratingperfect progressive
Past
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concentratedsimple
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had concentratedperfect
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was concentratingprogressive
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were concentratingprogressive
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had been concentratingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing concentrate
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Together, these characteristics allow the bacteria to concentrate where tumors are located while avoiding normal tissues.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
“It’s going to concentrate the fundraising over the next few years as well into these already very large names,” Stanford said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Greater presidential control has upsides and downsides—in dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor predicts that the ruling will concentrate unprecedented and possibly dangerous levels of power in the president’s hands.
From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026
She says things are going so well she left her full-time marketing job in February to concentrate exclusively on her dance business.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
She tried to move closer to the table with the elixir bottles, but she had to concentrate on keeping the Quassia vines wrapped around Gia.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
The shift further concentrates operational oversight among directors aligned with recent governance changes, including Chair Mary Filippelli.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 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
To overcome that limitation, the research team designed the detector around a metasurface, a patterned structure that concentrates electromagnetic energy into extremely small regions.
From Science Daily ● May 31, 2026
Net revenue increased 12% to $12.5 billion—mostly driven by strong sales of concentrates, the syrups and flavor mixtures Coca-Cola sells to its bottling partners—ahead of the $12.2 billion Wall Street had forecast.
From Barron's ● Apr. 27, 2026
He isn’t 100 percent sure that he won’t, so he says nothing, just concentrates on holding the bin.
From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers
As cases spread, health authorities were in touch with Taco Bell about food-safety concerns concentrated in southeast Michigan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
By doing that they avoid sweating and, combined with concentrated urine and dry faeces, it helps them minimise water loss, while their thick skin coat helps them ward off solar radiation.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Pixar is eliminating less than 10% of its staff, and the cuts are concentrated mostly in production and operations, according to a person familiar with the matter who declined to be named.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
The outbreak is heavily concentrated in five states, affecting people who ate at a Taco Bell restaurant.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
We couldn't think two minutes ahead when all our energy was concentrated on surviving to the next day.
From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson
People can make wealth by concentrating and can keep their wealth by diversifying.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 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
New superconducting magnets, capable of further concentrating the particle beams, will be installed to increase the number of collisions.
From Barron's ● Jun. 27, 2026
He was having trouble concentrating, until he heard his mother's next sentence.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
