dense Hear it!

dense Definition

dense (dens)

adjective dens′er, dens′·est

  1. having the parts crowded together; packed tightly together; compact
  2. difficult to get through, penetrate, etc. a dense fog, dense ignorance
  3. slow to understand; stupid
  4. Photog. opaque due to a heavy concentration of metallic silver: said of an overexposed or overdeveloped negative

Etymology: ME < L densus, compact < IE base *dens-, thick > Gr dasys, thick (used of hair), Hittite dassuš, strong

dense Related Forms

dense′ly adverb dense′·ness noun

dense Synonyms

dense

modif.

  1. Close together

    solid, compact, impenetrable; see thick 1.

  2. Slow-witted

    stupid, obtuse, thick-skulled; see dull 3, ignorant 1. See syn. study at stupid, thick.

dense Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • fog: Tuesday, January 26 The dense fog is over all things.
  • undergrowth: They can run at fast speeds even through dense undergrowth.
  • thicket: On the southern bank of the Brook, there is a fairly dense thicket, through which a pronounced ditch runs to the stream.
  • vegetation: The islands interior is covered in dense tropical vegetation, which provides a welcome shady canopy.
  • foliage: The dense foliage of trees was always a major cause of anxiety.
  • jungle: On my right, a monkey hangs atop the dense jungle, peering down with curiosity.

Modifying Another Word

  • unusually: But sometimes, when the Earth glides through an unusually dense clump of comet debris, the rate increases.
  • fairly: On the southern bank of the Brook, there is a fairly dense thicket, through which a pronounced ditch runs to the stream.
  • extremely: Now, unless we are extremely dense, we can hardly miss what Luke is saying.
  • relatively: The relatively dense road network has encouraged this pattern of piecemeal development.
  • too: If your page is too dense, your reader will quit out of it as soon as their eyes begin to tear.
  • quite: They have a scratchy white abrasive side and a normal but quite dense sponge side.

Used with adjective complement

  • become: He came to the part of the woods where it became dense.
  • appear: The Rheinberg image lacks subtlety and is harder to pick up finer detail whilst the crossed-polar image appears rather dense.
  • seem: I did not read it at the time I held it in my hands because it seemed too dense, too impenetrable.
  • get: The gas gets more dense toward the center but it doesn't form a surface.

Preposition: in

place: The reviewer states that if Kehily is dense in places, this is sometimes impenetrable.

Preposition: of

planet: Saturn is the least dense of the planets; its specific gravity ( 0.7 ) is less than that of water.

Preposition: than

  • air: This is because the gases which cause cot death are more dense than air.
  • water: In fact, Saturn is actually less dense than water - it would float in the bath!