concentrate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
concentrates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
concentrated,
past participle, past
-
concentrating
present participle
-
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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concentrates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
concentrated,
past participle, past
-
concentrating
present participle
-
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
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concentrates
plural
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
Holes
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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:
Other dairy proteins have also become more expensive, with another type of whey protein up 60% over the year, while one type of milk protein concentrate was up 80%.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Private health systems also use this type of data frequently, with one medical system using it to concentrate services in four high-risk neighborhoods of New York City.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
In healthcare technology, the nanolaser's ability to concentrate light into an extremely small area could support ultra-sensitive sensors and high-resolution imaging systems.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
The spot price of uranium concentrate is at its highest since early February, reaching almost $90 a pound.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
Though I tried to concentrate on Treasure Island, I was distracted by Ba flipping the pages of the ledger and scratching with his pencil at the page on the clipboard.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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
The focus was on raw concentrates of the rechargeable battery ingredient lithium, with most of its hundreds of thousands of tons of annual production shipped out to China, the world's largest maker of electric vehicles.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
Marine cloud brightening concentrates particles close to Earth's surface in one specific region.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 3, 2026
Mr. Wright, whose own ancestors ran a local newspaper in Georgia, concentrates on those who literally got their hands dirty learning the newspaper game.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
But I’m busy watching Violet as she concentrates on the chalkboard, the corner of her mouth still turned up.
From "All The Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven
Others can be smaller with a more concentrated population in the low hundreds.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Instead, that wealth is heavily concentrated among a tiny fraction of young people who already have at least $2 million in financial assets.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
“Experts warn that prediction markets are prone to encourage market manipulation and insider trading; and early research indicates that profits are highly concentrated in a small fraction of users, while the majority lose money.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
But together, they form an unusually concentrated swarm.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
The water was brimming with creatures, and the station was bristling with birds, but Brightbill and Glimmer ignored the other animals and concentrated on finding Roz.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
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
While Walker admits two-show days can be tiring and she spends a lot of time concentrating on “energy conservation,” the performance itself is a joy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
This can have benefits, the report said, as clinicians can spent their efforts having more meaningful conversations with patients or concentrating on complex tasks.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 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
“By the way, I think you made a good choice,” I say, concentrating on cutting a suitable size of waffle for the pickle fork.
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
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.
