concentrate

American  

[kon-suhn-treyt] / 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.

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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)

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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

His father, Ghulam Nabi Dar, a schoolteacher, initially wanted him to concentrate on academics and become a doctor.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

The report delivers a stark warning, too: "AI could widen gaps between countries, increase inequality within them, concentrate market power, weaken trust in public institutions, and create new risks for safety, rights, and social cohesion."

From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026

It challenges the idea that prosperity requires us to concentrate decision-making powers in the hands of the few.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 30, 2026

"We are making important progress which will safeguard the future of our game, concentrate resources and give our teams the best chance of achieving success at all levels."

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

I’d stuffed it there two hours ago so I could concentrate on my homework rather than wonder why it was taking him so long to text me, when he’s had my number for hours.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

Turning liquid whey into premium protein concentrates and isolates takes multimillion-dollar ultrafiltration systems and drying towers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026

Lamine Yamal prefers to let the media talk the talk while he concentrates on walking the walk, even with the constant Ballon d'Or chatter that has followed him since he was 16.

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026

To overcome that limitation, the research team designed the detector around a metasurface, a patterned structure that concentrates electromagnetic energy into extremely small regions.

From Science Daily ● May 31, 2026

Sales rose almost 50% as the company sold higher-value products, such as Neodymium-Praseodymium External link, or NdPr, oxide and metal, instead of rare-earth oxide concentrates, which are processed by other companies.

From Barron's ● May 7, 2026

Iodine 131 resembles naturally occurring iodine 127, which concentrates in the thyroid gland.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

One person sits in concentrated silence at each window, another perched in the back of the pick-up truck, ducking for the occasional limb branching from trees which rise around us.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

The concentrated sunlight can then be directed onto the tiny nonlinear crystal responsible for producing the entangled photons.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026

But we work in a very concentrated way.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Earnings growth was concentrated at Siemens' Smart Infrastructure business, which supplies electrical equipment for data centres and other industrial customers, as well as the Digital Industries division, which focuses on software to automate processes.

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

She concentrated on her family being all around her.

From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata

She says those physical sensations - including a heavy feeling in her chest, a racing heart and difficulty concentrating - can reinforce the symptoms of anxiety, creating a cycle that is difficult to break.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

Ukraine’s annual Atlas Festival, which drew 95,000 concertgoers last month, is concentrating on the fan experience amid the severe constraints of war.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

Michelle Pfeiffer’s return to series television after years of concentrating on feature films and her family has paid off in a big way.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

“Premium tiers sell out and premium prices rise because high-quality engagement demand is concentrating in a scarce set of premium acts,” the analysts said.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026

Ben only caught snatches of the sermon even though he tried hard to eliminate this forbidden yet splendid mirage by concentrating on the words of the priest.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

Related Words

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