concentrated

1. 1
   adjective

   Containing a large amount of a substance in proportion to the liquid it is dissolved in; not diluted.

   The recipe calls for concentrated tomato paste rather than fresh tomatoes.

   Workers diluted the concentrated acid before adding it to the tank.

   Similarstrong

   Oppositediluted

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past tense and past participle of concentrate.

   The army concentrated its forces near the river before dawn.

   By noon the fog had concentrated in the valley below.

   Note

   One spelling does the work of both past tense and past participle, and the participle needs an auxiliary: have for the perfect, a form of be for the passive. The verb behind it runs both ways. You can concentrate troops, or fog can concentrate by itself, and it takes on for attention: she concentrated on the task. After be, the participle shades into the "not diluted" adjective, and only the adjective accepts more and most.

3. 3
   adjective

   Intense and focused on or directed toward a single area or target.

   The general ordered a concentrated assault on the enemy's weakest point.

   Their concentrated marketing campaign poured the whole budget into one region.

   Similarfocused, intense, intent, centered, intensive

   Oppositesporadic, haphazard

   Note

   Gunfire shows the sense at its clearest: concentrated fire is force brought to bear on one point rather than scattered about. Its opposites are telling. They are sporadic and haphazard, not merely spread out, so the word implies effort that is sustained and deliberate as well as aimed. Where the "not diluted" meaning measures how much is packed into a liquid, this one describes where the effort goes.

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