Condensed

How to spell condensed

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce condensed

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does condensed mean?

1. adjectiveMade shorter, thicker, or more concentrated by removing excess content or liquid.
2. verbPast tense of condense: changed from a gas to a liquid, or compressed something into a smaller form.

Condensed in a sentence

• adjective

  The recipe calls for a tin of condensed milk.

• verb

  Warm steam condensed on the cold bathroom mirror.

• adjective

  She handed her manager a condensed version of the quarterly report.

• verb

  The editor condensed three chapters into a single tight section.

Where does condensed come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb condensare, meaning 'to make very thick or close together', formed from the prefix con- 'together' and densus 'thick, dense, crowded'. Latin densus is also the direct ancestor of the modern English adjective 'dense', so the link between something condensed and something dense is more than coincidence; they share the same root. The verb 'condense' entered English in the late 1400s and early 1500s, carrying the literal sense of compressing matter into a smaller, thicker space. From there it broadened: vapour condensing into liquid, and by extension text or information being compressed into a shorter form. The spelling keeps the single 's' of densus, which is the trap, since the ending sounds like '-st' and tempts an extra letter.

How the word is built

• con- (together)
• dens (thick, dense)
• -ed (past tense / adjective suffix)