concentrate Hear it!

concentrate Definition

con·cen·trate (kän′sən trāt′)

transitive verb -·trat′ed, -·trat′·ing

  1. to bring to, or direct toward, a common center
  2. to collect or focus (one's thoughts, efforts, etc.)
  3. to increase the strength, density, or intensity of

Etymology: < concenter + -ate

intransitive verb

  1. to come to or toward a common center
  2. to direct one's thoughts or efforts; fix one's attention (on or upon)
  3. to increase in strength, density, or intensity

noun

a substance that has been concentrated; specif., a liquid that has been made denser, as by the removal of some of its water orange-juice concentrate

concentrate Related Forms

con′·cen·tra′·tor noun

concentrate Synonyms

concentrate

v.

  1. To bring or come together

    focus, amass, mass, assemble, center, converge, combine, consolidate, compact, condense, gather, collect, cluster, coalesce, centralize, concenter, bring into a small compass, bring toward a central point, embody, localize, strengthen, intensify, distill, bring to bear on one point, direct, direct toward one object, fix, channel, constrict, agglomerate, reduce, aggregate, crowd together, draw together, flock together, contract, muster, bunch, store, heap up, swarm, forgather, conglomerate, congest, focalize, narrow, compress, congregate, huddle, hoard, garner; see also accumulate 1, distill, gather 1, unite 1.

    Antonyms disperse, dilute, dissipate.

  2. To employ all one's mental powers

    fix one's attention, focus on, apply oneself, bring the mind to bear, think hard, give exclusive attention to, meditate, meditate upon, ponder, focus attention on, fasten on, direct all one's attention to, muse, muse over, weigh, consider closely, scrutinize, attend closely, regard carefully, contemplate, ruminate, study deeply, peruse carefully, examine closely, brood over, put one's mind to, be engrossed in, think about with absorption, occupy the mind with, occupy the thoughts with, apply the mind, give heed, pay heed, fix one's thoughts, focus one's thoughts, give the mind to, direct the mind to, rivet one's attention, rack one's brains*, get on the beam*, keep one's eye on the ball*, knuckle down*, buckle down*, apply the seat of one's pants to the chair*, zero in on*; see also analyze 1, examine 1, think 1.

    Antonyms be inattentive, drift*, ignore.

concentrate Usage Examples

Object

  • mind: The 500th birthday of Luther in 1983 concentrated the minds of Marxists and non-Marxists, faced with the difficulty of celebrating this event.
  • effort: In recent years they have moved away from selling life assurances and have concentrated efforts toward commercial and personal general insurances.
  • sunlight: If the dish concentrates sunlight on the LNB cap, it will melt!
  • attention: Then concentrate the attention on the sphere, keeping it focused on the center of the sphere.

Preposition: on

  • aspect: Additionally, with fewer routine enquiries to handle, staff now concentrate on the more complex aspects of planning services.
  • task: By controlling forward and reverse movement with a single pedal it leaves the operator free to concentrate on the task in hand.
  • theme: This Beehive site concentrates on the themes of the Roman newspapers.
  • logic: Throw away your pencil and eraser, concentrate on the logic.
  • issue: This page concentrates on issues of specific relevance to sexual harassment claims.
  • area: March 7 The morning was spent in the Uxmal area, mostly concentrating on the ruins area.

Modifying Another Word

  • solely: The Bursary award allowed me to concentrate solely on my degree without having the added time constraints of a part-time job.
  • mainly: I am mainly concentrating on the simple phenomena in my talk.
  • instead: The production concentrates instead on building up the atmosphere to a gripping finale.

Followed by an intransitive particle

  • on: They also pinpoint the areas we need to concentrate on.
  • upon: Let us deliver reliability at every level to allow you to concentrate upon your core business functions.

Preposition: in

hedgerow: Biodiversity in areas of improved pastures and arable is often concentrated in hedgerows.

Noun used with modifier

  • whey: To speed up fermentation diluted whey concentrate or yogurt ferment can be added to the cabbage.
  • foam: ALTERNATIVE FOAM CONCENTRATES Alternative foam concentrates are available, please consult Chubb Fire for further information.
  • ore: Ordinary industrial containers are used for low-activity material such as uranium ore concentrate.
  • juice: Juice concentrate is diluted back to natural strength when packed in the UK.