concentration

American  

[kon-suhn-trey-shuhn] / ˌkɒn sənˈtreɪ ʃən /

noun

concentrations plural

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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concentration British  

/ ˌkɒnsənˈtreɪʃən /

noun

1. intense mental application; complete attention

2. the act or process of concentrating

3. something that is concentrated

4.  c.  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)

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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concentration Scientific  

/ 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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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• hyperconcentration
  noun
• nonconcentration
  noun
• overconcentration
  noun
• preconcentration
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• concentrations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of concentration

First recorded in 1625–35; concentr(ic) + -ation

Explanation

If you have great powers of concentration, that means you're able to focus all your attention on the matter at hand. Concentration can also refer to something that's clustered together or to the density or strength of a solution. A concentration of people means that there are many of them in one area. Your city may have a concentration of artists living in the warehouses by the river. A high concentration of a substance in a solution means that there's a lot of it relative to the volume: the Great Salt Lake has very few fish because of the high concentration of salt. To say that you have good concentration skills means that you pay attention well.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

concentration concentrations

Supervisors have heralded Measure G as a transformative move that will modernize county government and reduce the concentration of power among the board’s members.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Even with the best intentions, that concentration would limit people’s ability to choose their own future.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

After caffeine from coffee enters the body, it is processed by the liver and usually reaches its highest concentration within about an hour.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026

On most international measures, the UK's service sector concentration leaves it exposed to potential AI jobs losses.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

The next day, the American soldiers took the captured boys to Dachau, a liberated concentration camp located just twelve miles outside Munich.

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Home to tech hub Seattle, Washington also has one of the highest concentrations of H-1B workers, according to federal data.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026

The real challenge is finding deposits where they occur in concentrations high enough to make extraction economically practical.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026

“COVID-19 activity has been gradually increasing across California based on test positivity trends. Wastewater concentrations are also increasing,” according to Grant Boyken, a spokesperson for the California Department of Public Health.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

High concentrations of dengue hotspots are found in South and South East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

Vessels become hyperreactive to epinephrine so that physiologic concentrations suddenly possess necrotizing properties.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Related Words

• absorption
• combination
• consolidation