dense

American  

[dens] / dɛns /

adjective

• denser,
  comparative
• densest
  superlative

1. 

   having the component parts closely compacted together; crowded or compact.

   a dense forest;

   dense population.

   Synonyms:

   impenetrable, teeming

2. stupid; slow-witted; dull.

3. intense; extreme.

   dense ignorance.

4. relatively opaque; transmitting little light, as a photographic negative, optical glass, or color.

5. difficult to understand or follow because of being closely packed with ideas or complexities of style.

   a dense philosophical essay.

6. Mathematics. of or relating to a subset of a topological space in which every neighborhood of every point in the space contains at least one point of the subset.

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dense British  

/ dɛns /

adjective

1. thickly crowded or closely set

   a dense crowd

2. thick; impenetrable

   a dense fog

3. physics having a high density

4. stupid; dull; obtuse

5. (of a photographic negative) having many dark or exposed areas

6. (of an optical glass, colour, etc) transmitting little or no light

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• denseness
  noun
• nondenseness
  noun
• superdense
  adjective
• ultradense
  adjective
• densely
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• denser
  comparative
• densest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of dense

First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin dēnsus “thick”; cognate with Greek dasýs

Explanation

When woods are dense, the trees grow close together. When fog is dense, you can't see through it. And if someone calls you dense, they think nothing can get into your thick skull. Dense comes from the Latin densus which means thick and cloudy. In general, the word means packed tight and gives the sense that something is difficult to get through. Text can be dense in two different ways: when the words are packed closely together on the page, and when the text is filled with big words and complicated thoughts. Either way, reading dense text is just no fun.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dense denser densest

A globular cluster stellar stream is a long, narrow trail of stars that originated in a globular cluster, a dense collection of stars held together by gravity.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026

Companies in China benefit from cheap operating costs, including inexpensive open-source models from Chinese AI firms and proximity to China’s dense manufacturing supply-chain networks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

"We were able to create nice gradient: the concentration of embedded ytterbium ions gets denser as you go through each layer, with the core being the most dense," says Wu.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026

I do like the Trailseeker’s front corners, skinned with dense, injection-molded plastic over sheet steel.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

The man was filmy, and staring through him at the screen was like looking through a dense fog.

From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland

The Times: Why did you oppose Senate Bill 79, which requires cities to allow taller, denser buildings near transit stops?

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026

That compression could have left behind a denser region below Stickney Crater, creating a subtle gravitational signature that scientists may be able to detect.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026

Although there is little scientific evidence, it's said the technique also results in a colder, denser product that will cool rather than dilute a cocktail.

From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026

Analysts see room for King Slide to capture a bigger share of AI infrastructure spending as cloud providers adopt custom chips, liquid cooling and denser hardware.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

In Florence, however, Galileo’s disciple Torricelli heard in 1643 of Berti’s experiments and realized that he could simplify matters by using a denser liquid.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Trace that hazy glow toward its densest region, and you will be looking in the direction of the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026

We walk Sham Shui Po, once among the city’s densest working-class food neighborhoods.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026

“Compassion,” the preacher proclaimed, is “mercy in action,” adding: “I can also show you one small rhetorical tweak that guarantees even your densest congregant won’t miss the point.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

Black ones hold crude oil as well as the "heaviest" or densest products like bitumen.

From Barron's ● Apr. 26, 2026

The foragers were there before us and they brought about dramatic changes even in the densest jungles and the most desolate wildernesses.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

Related Words

• heavy
• impenetrable
• opaque
• solid