condenser

[ kuhn-den-ser ]

noun

1. a person or thing that condenses.
2. an apparatus for condensing.
3. any device for reducing gases or vapors to liquid or solid form.
4. Optics. a lens or combination of lenses that gathers and concentrates light in a specified direction, often used to direct light onto the projection lens in a projection system.
5. Electricity. capacitor.

condenser

/ kənˈdɛnsə /

noun

1. 1. an apparatus for reducing gases to their liquid or solid form by the abstraction of heat
   2. a device for abstracting heat, as in a refrigeration unit
2. a lens that concentrates light into a small area
3. another name for capacitor
4. a person or device that condenses

condenser

/ kən-dĕn′sər /

1. An apparatus used to condense vapor, usually using cooling or pressurization.
2. See capacitor
3. A mirror, lens, or combination of lenses used to gather light and direct it upon an object or through a projection lens.

Other Words From

• inter·con·denser noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of condenser¹

First recorded in 1680–90; condense + -er ¹

Example Sentences

The refrigerant then flows through condenser coils where it releases its heat out and cools back into a liquid.

From Seattle Times

Heat pump clothes dryers push warm air through the spinning tub of clothes to absorb some of the moisture, then pump the air through a condenser to remove the moisture so that it can be cycled back through the clothes.

From Los Angeles Times

The water in question is only used in a “condenser” to return steam back to liquid water, not to directly cool the reactor.

From Washington Post

In my power reactor operating experience, we did not change the flow rate of condenser cooling water as the outside temperature increased.

From Washington Post

On Thursday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced that Berlin’s idea for solving these problems — a snow-melting system that will tap excess heat from a nearby biomass power plant by pumping condenser water through pipes under downtown roads and sidewalks — is one of 166 projects to receive funding under a popular but oversubscribed program that is receiving an infusion of $7.5 billion over five years under last year’s infrastructure law.

From Washington Post