- compact#
- compact adj dense, *close, thickAnalogous words: compressed, condensed, contracted (see CONTRACT vb): concentrated, consolidated, compacted (see COM-PACT vb): solid, *firm, hard: *tightcompact vb Compact, consolidate, unify, concentrate are comparable when meaning to bring or gather together the parts, particles, elements, or units of a thing so as to form a close mass or an integral whole.Compact stresses the process more than the effect. It usually suggests a packing or pressing together of many things so as to form a closely arranged mass or a dense substance and may be used in reference both to material and immaterial things; sometimes it carries so strong an implication of solid formation or construction that it fundamentally means to build firmly or to strengthen{
heat and lack of rain have compacted the soil
}{compact matted fibers of wool and hair into felt by rolling and pressing
}{sweet spring ... a box where sweets compacted lie— Herbert
}{it is based on solid facts, nay, is compacted of solid facts from the first sentence to the last— Times Lit. Sup.
}Consolidate implies a merging or uniting, often in an exceedingly close union, of previously distinct but usually homogeneous or complementary things. The term may take as its object such a whole as a nation, a people, or an empire or as a substance or material and may imply a process which promotes the binding together of the parts, elements, or individuals so that solidarity or solidity is achieved{war tends to consolidate a people
}{organize state leagues for political action in order to consolidate the labor vote— Watkins
}{rolling and cooling consolidated the newly laid asphalt into a firm smooth pavement
}But consolidate can also take as its objects the units (as parts, elements, individuals, or groups) which have been brought together in close union{these organizations worked independently, and subsequently they were partially consolidated— Heiser
}{two marriages with the Dutch Vandergraves had consolidated these qualities of thrift and handsome living— Wharton
}Unify implies a union of heterogeneous or homogeneous parts, elements, or individuals that results in the making or producing of a thing that has oneness and integrity and that stands by itself as a thing apart; the term does not, however, carry as strong an implication of solidarity as does consolidate but, on the other hand, it places stress on the integration of parts so that each does its appointed work or serves its own purpose to the benefit not only of itself but of the whole; thus, a dramatist unifies (not consolidates) the play he composes; after a civil war, the task of the government is to unify (rather than consolidate) a nation; the imagination of a great poet unifies a mass of images and impressions; the Homeric poems may have been originally a collection of narrative poems, but it seems likely that one person unified them{would now be technically possible to unify the world and abolish war— Russell
}Concentrate usually carries the implication of bringing together a number of things that are scattered or diffused and of massing them around a point or center;{concentrate troops at places where an attack is expected
}{concentrate one's efforts on a single piece of work
}{the science of that age was all divination, clairvoyance . . . seeking in an instant of vision to concentrate a thousand experiences— Pater
}Concentrate may be extended to imply the fixing of the mind or attention on one thing so that all distracting objects or thoughts are eliminated{her excitement made her unable to concentrate on the task
}A similar implication of eliminating whatever weakens, dilutes, or adulterates is found in technical use; thus, the chemist concentrates a solution by evaporating the solvent; a miner concentrates ores (i. e., separates the base from the precious metals) by a machine or by washing.compact n pact, entente, convention, concordat, treaty, cartel, *contract, bargain
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
