Concentrate
/ˈkɒnsəntreɪt/
Definitions
2 meaningsTo give all your attention to something or to think very carefully about something you are doing.
/ˈkɒnsəntreɪt/
To focus one's attention or mental effort on something.
He couldn't concentrate on the movie because of the noise.
💡 Simply: Imagine you're trying to find a tiny toy in a messy room. To find it, you have to *concentrate* – give all your attention to the search, ignoring everything else! It's like when you're playing a video game and you need to focus on winning.
👶 For kids: To pay close attention to something. Like when you are coloring or watching cartoons.
More Examples
The students were told to concentrate during the lecture.
She found it difficult to concentrate with so much distraction.
How It's Used
"I need to concentrate on my studies for the exam."
"Scientists concentrate the solution to obtain the desired compound."
To bring things together into one place or to make something stronger by removing other substances.
/ˈkɒnsəntreɪt/
To bring or gather together.
The army concentrated its forces for the attack.
💡 Simply: Imagine you have lots of ingredients for a smoothie, but you want the flavor to be really strong. You *concentrate* the ingredients by adding less water. It's like when you shrink an image on your phone and it makes the image smaller.
👶 For kids: To put things or people together in one place. Like when you put all your toys in a box.
More Examples
The juice has been concentrated to remove excess water.
The company plans to concentrate its resources on its core business.
How It's Used
"The general decided to concentrate the troops at the border."
"The company will concentrate its marketing efforts in this region."
Idioms & expressions
concentrate on
To focus all of one's attention on a specific thing.
"We need to concentrate on finishing this project."
From Latin *concentrare*, meaning 'to center together', from *con-* (together) + *centrum* (center).
The word 'concentrate' has been used since the 16th century, originally with meanings related to drawing something to a center or point.
Memory tip
Think of a target; you *concentrate* by focusing all your energy like arrows towards it.
Word Origin
"to center together"