concentrate

Universal Words verb, noun verb 1 ~ (sth) (on sth / on doing sth) to give all your attention to sth and not think about anything else: [V] I can't concentrate with all that noise going on. * [VN] Nothing concentrates the mind better than the knowledge that you could die tomorrow (= it makes you think very clearly). * I decided to concentrate all my efforts on finding somewhere to live. 2 [VN+adv./prep.] to bring sth together in one place: Power is largely concentrated in the hands of a small elite. * We need to concentrate resources on the most run-down areas. * Fighting was concentrated around the towns to the north. * Never concentrate the heat in one place for too long. 3 [VN] (technical) to increase the strength of a substance by reducing its volume, for example by boiling it PHRASALVERBS concentrate on sth to spend more time doing one particular thing than others: In this lecture I shall concentrate on the early years of Charles's reign * She gave up German in order to concentrate on her French. noun [C,U] a substance that is made stronger because water or other substances have been removed: mineral concentrates found at the bottom of rivers * jams made with fruit juice concentrate