# concentrate

Pronunciation: say "KON-suhn-trayt" US /ˈkɑn.sən.tɹeɪt/, UK /ˈkɒn.sən.tɹeɪt/

## Verb

1. To focus your thought or attention on a single task or idea.
   - Simple: To give all your attention to one thing.
   - _Please concentrate on the road while you are driving._
   - _He found it hard to concentrate after hearing the bad news._
3. To increase the strength of a liquid or ore while reducing its bulk, by removing useless or excess material.
   - Simple: To make something stronger by taking out the water or waste in it.
   - _The plant concentrates the brine until salt crystals begin to form._
   - _Engineers concentrate low-grade ore to raise its metal content before smelting._
4. To bring or direct things toward a common center; to gather them into a single body, mass, or force.
   - Simple: To bring people or things together into one place or group.
   - _The commander concentrated all available forces along the river._
   - _Investors concentrate their holdings in a handful of large stocks._
5. To approach or meet at a common center; to come together and consolidate.
   - Simple: To come together at one central point.
   - _The protesters concentrated in the main square by midday._
   - _Severe storms often concentrate along the warm front._

## Noun

2. A substance in condensed form, made stronger by removing liquid or other bulk.
   - Simple: A thick form of something made by taking most of the water out.
   - _The factory ships tomato concentrate in large steel drums._
   - _Frozen juice concentrate keeps for months in the freezer._

## Adjective

6. Concentrated; in a dense, undiluted form rather than thinned out or spread apart.
   - Simple: Strong and not thinned out, so a small amount holds a lot of something.

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3–5** — Dating from the early 17th century, this comes from a Romance language (compare French concentrer, Italian concentràre, and Spanish concentrar) or alternatively from Medieval or New Latin concentrō plus the verb-forming suffix -ate. By surface analysis it breaks down as con- + center (centr- in compounds) + -ate.
**Meaning 6** — This comes from Medieval or New Latin concentrātus, the perfect passive participle of concentrō, combined with the adjective-forming suffix -ate. It is related to Etymology 1.
**Meaning 2** — This arose as a substantivation of the adjective above, formed with the noun-forming suffix -ate. Compare French concentré and German Konzentrat.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/concentrate (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).