concentrate

American  

[kon-suhn-trayt] / 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.

---

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)

---

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

He said Stelco President Paul Simon wrote to Joly to convey that conditions were getting worse and that the company would have to concentrate on hot-roll production.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

The pitch is familiar: Faster service, fewer mistakes and less repetitive work for employees, who will theoretically be freed to concentrate on something more important.

From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026

"Now you have the time to concentrate on yourself, on what you lost, what you need. Now it's our recovery or some kind of recovery as much as we can."

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

These structures do not have membranes, but they can concentrate RNA molecules in one place.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026

I open to the first chapter, but I can’t concentrate, because Ms. Martinez is flipping through the pages of someone’s exam—mine?

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison

Dry heat browns, evaporates and concentrates while you go do something else.

From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026

Lawrence and others, concentrates on the young Brahms as the composer takes his first steps toward mastering all genres of music except opera.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

The Lib Dem leader also addressed the potential threat posed by AI in his speech, saying that "handled badly, it concentrates more power in fewer hands than at any point in human history."

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

At its core is a structure known as a nanocavity, which traps and concentrates light within an exceptionally tiny space.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026

He concentrates on strong lines without shading, using a combination of pencil, pen, brown and black ink, and a reed pen that he made himself.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

Rather than trying to manufacture large numbers of mature macrophages, first author Shi Yue, MD, of Ying's laboratory and his colleagues concentrated on GMPs, the progenitor cells that can produce macrophages.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

The BBC's Evan Davis, who was travelling through the Eurotunnel to Calais at the time of the incident, witnessed blue light vehicles "concentrated on one of the platforms" as he entered France.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

“The remaining dependence is concentrated in a few critical areas,” said Franz-Stefan Gady, a Vienna-based military analyst and head of Gady Consulting who has spent long periods with Ukrainian forces.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

The latest steps are mainly concentrated in "strategic infrastructure investment", said Oxford Economics' Yue, meaning that they are "likely to generate weaker near-term employment and income gains than previous stimulus cycles".

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

As Netta’s eyes stayed on the Story Box, I closed my eyes and concentrated on the Maafa’s tale.

From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia

The path to a safe future, he said, is to “distribute this technology widely and create the right checks and balances, rather than concentrating it in the hands of just a few.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

But concentrating her creative energy on a narrower slice of music didn’t lead to higher quality.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

He also said that the company would be concentrating jobs in key hubs, with global teams mainly in New York and San Francisco.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

Werro has improved every year of her top-level career and now, having finished her studies and concentrating on the track, has shown ruthless consistency.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

He’d been concentrating so hard on no waking the ice river that he’d forgotten that all this time she’d been carrying the ravenskin pouch.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

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

---