condense

[ kuhn-dens ]

verb (used with object)

, con·densed, con·dens·ing.

1. to make more dense or compact; reduce the volume or extent of; concentrate.

   Synonyms: consolidate, compress

   Antonyms: expand

2. to reduce to a shorter form; abridge:

   Condense your answer into a few words.

   Synonyms: abbreviate, abstract, epitomize, digest

3. to reduce to another and denser form, as a gas or vapor to a liquid or solid state.

verb (used without object)

, con·densed, con·dens·ing.

1. to become denser or more compact or concentrated.
2. to reduce a book, speech, statement, or the like, to a shorter form.
3. to become liquid or solid, as a gas or vapor:

   The steam condensed into droplets.

condense

/ kənˈdɛns /

verb

1. tr to increase the density of; compress
2. to reduce or be reduced in volume or size; make or become more compact
3. to change or cause to change from a gaseous to a liquid or solid state
4. chem to undergo or cause to undergo condensation

Derived Forms

• conˈdensable, adjective
• conˌdensaˈbility, noun

Other Words From

• over·con·dense verb overcondensed overcondensing
• precon·dense verb precondensed precondensing
• recon·dense verb recondensed recondensing
• uncon·densing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of condense¹

First recorded in 1475–85; from Middle French condenser, from Latin condēnsāre, from con- con- + dēnsāre “to thicken,” verb derivative of dēnsus dense

Word History and Origins

Origin of condense¹

C15: from Latin condēnsāre, from dēnsāre to make thick, from dēnsus dense

Synonym Study

See contract.

Example Sentences

A vapor chamber—an enclosed cooling system that relies on liquid evaporating and condensing to cool the air around it—employs another fan to help vent hot air out through the top.

From Popular-Science

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

From Digiday

This interview is based on phone and email interviews and has been condensed and edited for clarity.

From Quanta Magazine

Automated tools that help condense and summarize and extract information from written text are becoming more and more essential.

From Fortune

Appel talked about how the university has condensed it’s “how to teach online” courses for teachers into week-long immersions, or shorter, that are now free for teachers and parents to meet the unprecedented demand.

From Voice of San Diego

Those vapors condense into a liquid later in the process and that “condensate” is collected in a storage area, called a sump.

From The Daily Beast

She speaks in thick paragraphs that her staffers probably wish they could condense and sharpen at times.

From The Daily Beast

I cannot condense the horror of either the Bosnian war or the Rwandan genocide in the length of this column.

From The Daily Beast

They get an actor on the schedule at their budgets where they try to condense roles.

From The Daily Beast

Should the vapor not condense well, the test-tube may be immersed in a glass of cold water.

From Project Gutenberg

"I wonder if she has ever tried to condense rudeness into an epigram," said Isabel viciously, pausing in her narrative.

From Project Gutenberg

I tried to condense the steam by the cold sides of the condenser, without using injection-water.

From Project Gutenberg

After a while it became cool enough to permit the water to condense on the surface and so the ocean began to be formed.

From Project Gutenberg

Heat and light come and go, as vapors of water condense into rain and dissolve into vapor to return again to the atmosphere.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• compress
• curtail
• shorten
• summarize
• thicken