Concentrate

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈkɒn.sən.tɹeɪt/

Definitions

1. To focus one's attention or mental effort on a particular task or subject
2. To direct attention and mental resources toward a specific goal or topic while minimizing distractions
3. To gather or collect elements or substances into a denser or more compact form ; to think carefully and focus deeply on a matter or activity ; to bring together resources or people in one place for a specific purpose

Etymology: Before it meant focusing attention, "concentrate" was a plain spatial idea: to gather things toward a single point. The word's core is the Latin "centrum," meaning the centre, borrowed into Medieval and New Latin as "concentrō," to bring to a common centre. English took the verb in the early 1600s, and it was a verb of gathering and massing before it was one of the mind. Its earliest uses describe troops, people, or substances brought together in one place. The mental sense grew out of that picture. If you draw things into one centre, you are also drawing your thoughts and senses toward one object. The same logic produced the chemical and everyday sense of concentrate, a substance made denser by removing what dilutes it, such as fruit juice concentrate. That noun came from the adjective "concentrātus," which was itself built from the same Latin participle, so the word's noun and verb forms developed in parallel from one idea of the gathered centre.

Synonyms: focus, devote, intensify, centralize, gather

Antonyms: disperse, scatter, diverge, distract, dissipate