concentrate

concentrate — verb

1. to keep your mind fully on one particular activity, thought, or issue, not letti

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveB1
Definition

to keep your mind fully on one particular activity, thought, or issue, not letting it drift to unrelated things

Example

Romi put on noise-cancelling headphones to concentrate on her math homework.

concentrate + on + noun

The team must concentrate their efforts on the most urgent problems first.

transitive: concentrate + efforts + on + noun

Common collocations
  • concentrate hard
  • concentrate deeply
  • concentrate fully
  • concentrate on a task
  • concentrate on a problem
  • concentrate one's attention
  • concentrate one's efforts
  • concentrate one's mind
  • concentrate one's energy
  • try to concentrate
  • find it hard to concentrate
Synonyms
  • focus

    more precise and often suggests blocking out distractions deliberately; 'focus the camera' is a physical metaphor 'concentrate' doesn't share

  • pay attention

    more general and behavioural; describes the act of listening or watching, not necessarily deep mental engagement

  • zoom in

    informal, suggests narrowing from a broad view to one detail

Antonyms
  • distract

    to pull attention away from something

Grammar Patterns

concentrate + on + noun/gerund

concentrate + noun + on + noun

concentrate (no object)

Usage Note

Frequently used with the preposition 'on' to specify the object of attention. The transitive pattern (concentrate + noun + on) is common with words like 'efforts', 'energy', 'resources', and 'attention'.

Common Mistakes

I concentrated my homework.
I concentrated on my homework.
'concentrate' usually needs 'on' before the object of attention.
She concentrated to read the book.
She concentrated on reading the book.
Use 'on + gerund', not 'to + infinitive', after 'concentrate'.

2. to bring or gather many people, items, or amounts to a shared location so they f

2.verbtransitive / intransitiveB2
Definition

to bring or gather many people, items, or amounts to a shared location so they form a dense group

Example

Most of the city's wealth is concentrated in a few wealthy neighborhoods near the coast.

passive: be concentrated + in + location

The fighting has concentrated along the border between the two regions in recent weeks.

intransitive: concentrate + along/around + location

Common collocations
  • highly concentrated
  • heavily concentrated
  • densely concentrated
  • concentrated in an area
  • concentrated around a center
  • concentrated wealth
  • concentrated population
  • concentrated power
Synonyms
  • gather

    more general; can describe people meeting or things being collected without implying density

  • accumulate

    suggests gradual collection over time rather than deliberate centralisation

  • cluster

    suggests close grouping in small areas, often naturally

Antonyms
  • disperse

    to spread out and move away from a central point

  • scatter

    to throw or place in different directions

Grammar Patterns

concentrate + noun + in/at/around + location

be concentrated + in/at/around + location

concentrate + adverb of place

Usage Note

Often used in the passive voice when describing where things are located. The intransitive form (things concentrate somewhere) is less common than the transitive or passive forms. Subject can be physical objects, people, wealth, power, or natural phenomena.

Common Mistakes

The population is concentrated.' (vague)
The population is concentrated in the capital city.
The passive form needs a location to be complete.
The data concentrates on the table.' (for physical placement)
The data is concentrated around the city center.
'concentrate on' is for attention; 'concentrate in/around' is for physical gathering.

3. to thicken a liquid by taking water out of it, typically through boiling or evap

3.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to thicken a liquid by taking water out of it, typically through boiling or evaporation

Example

Kenji concentrated the stock by letting it simmer for an hour to make the soup richer.

transitive: concentrate + liquid + by boiling

The factory concentrates orange juice before shipping it to stores around the country.

Common collocations
  • concentrated juice
  • concentrated solution
  • concentrated stock
  • concentrate by boiling
  • concentrate by evaporation
  • concentrate a liquid
  • concentrate a sauce
Synonyms
  • condense

    similar but can also apply to text; 'condensed milk' is a specific product name while 'concentrated milk' describes a process

  • reduce

    cooking term for boiling liquid down; 'reduce the sauce' is more common in recipes than 'concentrate the sauce'

  • thicken

    focuses on texture change, not necessarily water removal; can involve adding flour or starch

Antonyms
  • dilute

    to make a liquid weaker by adding water

  • water down

    informal synonym of dilute

Grammar Patterns

concentrate + liquid/food + by boiling/heating

be concentrated + for + purpose

Usage Note

Primarily used in cooking and industrial processing. The result is a 'concentrate' (noun). Unlike verb sense 1, this sense never takes a human subject's attention as its object — the object is always a liquid or substance.

Common Mistakes

I concentrated the soup with salt.
I concentrated the soup by boiling it.
'concentrate' in this sense means removing water, not adding ingredients.
Phrasal verbs

concentrate on

phrasal verb

To give all your attention to a particular thing or activity.

Sara needs to concentrate on her math homework now.

Can you concentrate on the road while driving?

concentrate — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All five words relate to directing or collecting, but they belong to different senses of 'concentrate'. 'Focus' is the closest match for verb sense 1 — it means directing attention with precision toward a clear target, often with the idea of removing distractions. 'Pay attention' is broader and more behavioural; it describes the act of watching or listening carefully without necessarily implying deep mental absorption. 'Gather' and 'accumulate' belong to verb sense 2 (bring together physically) — you gather objects or people, you accumulate wealth or data, but you don't 'gather your attention'. 'Condense' relates to verb sense 3: it means making denser, whether by removing water ('condensed milk') or shortening text. For the FOCUS ATTENTION sense, use 'concentrate' when you are putting sustained mental effort into one thing for a period of time, and 'focus' when you are pointedly directing your attention to a specific target. For example: 'Eli needed to concentrate for three hours to finish the exam' versus 'Eli focused his attention on the final question.'

focus ↗pay attentiongather ↗accumulate ↗condense

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • concentrate on a task
  • concentrate one's mind
  • be concentrated in an area
  • made from concentrate
  • copper / iron / zinc concentrate

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

'Concentrate' comes from the Latin word 'concentratus', which was formed by joining 'com-' (meaning 'together') and 'centrum' (meaning 'center'). The original idea was to bring things toward a shared center point. English borrowed the word through French in the 17th century, first using it for physical gathering. By the 18th century, people began using it for mental focus, and in the 19th century it gained the chemical meaning of removing water to make a substance stronger.