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concentration

[kon-suh n-trey-shuh n]
See more synonyms for concentration on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the act of concentrating; the state of being concentrated.
  2. exclusive attention to one object; close mental application.
  3. something concentrated: a concentration of stars.
  4. Military.
    1. the assembling of military or naval forces in a particular area in preparation for further operations.
    2. a specified intensity and duration of artillery fire placed on a small area.
  5. the focusing of a student's academic program on advanced study in a specific subject or field.
  6. Chemistry. (in a solution) a measure of the amount of dissolved substance contained per unit of volume.
  7. Also called memory. Cards. a game in which all 52 cards are spread out face down on the table and each player in turn exposes two cards at a time and replaces them face down if they do not constitute a pair, the object being to take the most pairs by remembering the location of the cards previously exposed.
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Origin of concentration

First recorded in 1625–35; concentr(ic) + -ation
Related formshy·per·con·cen·tra·tion, nounnon·con·cen·tra·tion, nouno·ver·con·cen·tra·tion, nounpre·con·cen·tra·tion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for concentration

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • And how was I to know, then, that the concentration was due to the necessity of invention?

    The Fortune Hunter

    Louis Joseph Vance

  • He has the constitution of a rhinoceros, the digestion of an ostrich, and the concentration of an oyster.

    Little Dorrit

    Charles Dickens

  • Oh, gentlemen, have ye ever seen such a concentration of vice?

    Micah Clarke

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  • “Quite,” said Barter, whose face was now a mask of concentration.

    The Mind Master

    Arthur J. Burks

  • Let us now consider some of the implications of this concentration on rendering service.

    Creating Capital

    Frederick L. Lipman

British Dictionary definitions for concentration

concentration

noun
  1. intense mental application; complete attention
  2. the act or process of concentrating
  3. something that is concentrated
  4. the strength of a solution, esp the amount of dissolved substance in a given volume of solvent, usually expressed in moles per cubic metre or cubic decimetre (litre)Symbol: c
  5. the process of increasing the concentration of a solution
  6. military
    1. the act of bringing together military forces
    2. the application of fire from a number of weapons against a target
  7. economics the degree to which the output or employment in an industry is accounted for by only a few firms
  8. another name (esp US) for Pelmanism
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for concentration

n.

1630s, "action of bringing to a center," noun of action from verb concentrate (v.). Meaning "a mass so collected" is from 1670s; "continuous focus of mental activity" is from 1846.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
concentration in Medicine

concentration

(kŏn′sən-trā′shən)
n.
  1. An increase of the strength of a pharmaceutical preparation by the extraction, precipitation, and drying of its crude active agent.
  2. An increase in the strength of a fluid or gas in a mixture by purification, evaporation, or diffusion.
  3. The amount of a specified substance in a unit amount of another substance.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
concentration in Science

concentration

[kŏn′sən-trā′shən]
  1. The amount of a particular substance in a given amount of another substance, especially a solution or mixture.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.