compress.
To make smaller; to press or squeeze together, or to make something occupy a smaller space or volume.
Meaning & usage
To make smaller; to press or squeeze together, or to make something occupy a smaller space or volume.
The force required to compress a spring varies linearly with the displacement.
To be pressed together or folded by compression into a more economic, easier format.
Our new model compresses easily, ideal for storage and travel
To condense into a more economic, easier format.
This chart compresses the entire audit report into a few lines on a single diagram.
To abridge.
If you try to compress the entire book into a three-sentence summary, you will lose a lot of information.
To make digital information smaller by encoding it using fewer bits.
To make a pulse or particle bunch shorter by applying dispersion to it.
To embrace sexually.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English compressen, from Old French compresser, from Late Latin compressare (“to press hard/together”), from Latin compressus, the past participle of comprimō (“to compress”), itself from com- (“together”) + premō (“press”).
A multiply folded piece of cloth, a pouch of ice, etc., used to apply to a patient's skin, cover the dressing of wounds, and placed with the aid of a bandage to apply pressure on an injury.
He held a cold compress over the sprain.
A machine for compressing.
Where this word comes from
From Middle French compresse, from compresse (“to compress”), from Late Latin compressare (“to press hard/together”), from Latin compressus, the past participle of comprimō (“to compress”), itself from com- (“together”) + premō (“press”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.