dense Definition
dense (dens)
adjective dens′er, dens′·est
- having the parts crowded together; packed tightly together; compact
- difficult to get through, penetrate, etc. a dense fog, dense ignorance
- slow to understand; stupid
- 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.
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
Browse dictionary entries near dense
- ‹ Denpasar
- ‹ denounce
- ‹ denouement
- ‹ denote
- ‹ denotative
- ‹ denotation
- ‹ denominator
- ‹ denominative
- ‹ denominationalism
- ‹ denominational

