compact¹

[adj. kuh m-pakt, kom-, kom-pakt; v. kuh m-pakt; n. kom-pakt] /adj. kəmˈpækt, kɒm-, ˈkɒm pækt; v. kəmˈpækt; n. ˈkɒm pækt/

adjective

joined or packed together; closely and firmly united; dense; solid:

compact soil.

arranged within a relatively small space:

a compact shopping center; a compact kitchen.

designed to be small in size and economical in operation.

solidly or firmly built:

the compact body of a lightweight wrestler.

expressed concisely; pithy; terse; not diffuse:

a compact review of the week's news.

composed or made (usually followed by of):

a book compact of form and content.

Also, bicompact. Mathematics. (of a set) having the property that in any collection of open sets whose union contains the given set there exists a finite number of open sets whose union contains the given set; having the property that every open cover has a finite subcover.

verb (used with object)

to join or pack closely together; consolidate; condense.

to make firm or stable.

10.

to form or make by close union or conjunction; make up or compose.

11.

Metallurgy. to compress (metallic or metallic and nonmetallic powders) in a die to be sintered.

12.

to crush into compact form for convenient disposal or for storage until disposal:

to compact rubbish.

noun

13.

a small case containing a mirror, face powder, a puff, and sometimes rouge.

14.

Also called compact car. an automobile that is smaller than an intermediate but larger than a subcompact and generally has a combined passenger and luggage volume of 100–110 cu. ft. (2.8–3.1 m ³).

15.

Metallurgy. (in powder metallurgy) an object to be sintered formed of metallic or of metallic and nonmetallic powders compressed in a die.

Origin

1375-1425; late Middle English < Latin compāctus (past participle of compingere to shut away, bind together), equivalent to com- com- + pag-, variant stem of pangere to fix, arrange (akin to pāx peace; cf. pact, compact²) + -tus past participle suffix

Related forms

compactedly, adverb

compactedness, noun

compactly, adverb

compactness, noun

uncompacted, adjective

well-compacted, adjective

Synonyms

2. small, snug. 5. concise, succinct, brief. 8. compress. 9. stabilize, solidify.

compact²

[kom-pakt] /ˈkɒm pækt/

noun

a formal agreement between two or more parties, states, etc.; contract:

the proposed economic compact between Germany and France.

Origin

1580-90; < Latin compactum, compectum, noun use of neuter of compactus (past participle of compacīscī to make an agreement), equivalent to com- com- + pac- (stem of pacīscī to secure by negotiation, akin to pāx settlement ending hostilities, peace) + -tus past participle ending

Synonyms

treaty, pact, entente, convention, concordat. See agreement.

Examples from the web for compact

The short, compact dogs' small, slanted eyes suggest a close kinship to the wolf.
Their relatively short wavelength makes the transmission equipment compact and the antennas small.
If the old compact has been discarded, make a new one and trade dollars for autonomy.
The payback on investing in a compact fluorescent bulb, therefore, is less than a year.
Create a compact cabinet with a bulletin-board door.
compact cameras with fast, professional-style lenses have been blowing up big time in the past year.
Hull said he rented compact cars and paid the difference when he chose fancier accommodations over a midrange hotel.
First, making fuel-cells compact and cheap enough to drive an electric vehicle is far from easy.
In homes around the world, compact fluorescent lamps are replacing standard incandescent bulbs.
Chromosomes in a dividing cell are duplicated and highly compact.

British Dictionary definitions for compact

compact¹

adjective (kəmˈpækt; ˈkɒmpækt)

closely packed together; dense

neatly fitted into a restricted space

concise; brief

well constructed; solid; firm

(foll by of) composed or made up (of)

denoting a tabloid-sized version of a newspaper that has traditionally been published in broadsheet form

(logic) (of a relation) having the property that for any pair of elements such that a is related to b, there is some element c such that a is related to c and c to b, as less than on the rational numbers

(US & Canadian) (of a car) small and economical

verb (transitive) (kəmˈpækt)

to pack or join closely together; compress; condense

10.

(foll by of) to create or form by pressing together: sediment compacted of three types of clay

11.

(metallurgy) to compress (a metal powder) to form a stable product suitable for sintering

noun (ˈkɒmpækt)

12.

a small flat case containing a mirror, face powder, etc, designed to be carried in a woman's handbag

13.

(US & Canadian) a comparatively small and economical car

14.

(metallurgy) a mass of metal prepared for sintering by cold-pressing a metal powder

15.

a tabloid-sized version of a newspaper that has traditionally been publis hed in broadsheet form

Derived Forms

compacter, noun
compaction, noun
compactly, adverb
compactness, noun

Word Origin

C16: from Latin compactus, from compingere to put together, from com- together + pangere to fasten

compact²

/ˈkɒmpækt/

noun

an official contract or agreement

Word Origin

C16: from Latin compactum, from compaciscī to agree, from com- together + paciscī to contract; see pact

Word Origin and History for compact

adj.

late 14c., from Middle French compact (14c.) or directly from Latin compactus "concentrated," past participle of compingere "to fasten together, construct," from com- "with, together" (see com-) + pangere "to fix, fasten" (see pact). Compact car is 1960. Compact disc is from 1979.

"agreement," 1590s, from Latin compactum "agreement," noun use of neuter past participle of compacisci "come to agreement," from com- "together" (see com-) + pacisci "to covenant, contract" (see pact).

"make-up case," 1921, from compact (adj.), based on its containing compacted face powder.

early 15c., from Latin compactus, past participle of compingere "to fasten together" (see compact (adj.)). Related: Compacted; compacting.

compact in Technology

1. (Or "finite", "isolated") In domain theory, an element d of a cpo D is compact if and only if, for any chain S, a subset of D,
d <= lub="" s=">" there="" exists="" in="" such="" that="" d="" <="s." I.e. you always reach d (or better) after a finite number of steps up the chain.
("<=" is="" written="" in="" LaTeX as \sqsubseteq).
[Jargon File]
(1995-01-13)
2. Of a design, describes the valuable property that it can all be apprehended at once in one's head. This generally means the thing created from the design can be used with greater facility and fewer errors than an equivalent tool that is not compact. Compactness does not imply triviality or lack of power; for example, C is compact and Fortran is not, but C is more powerful than Fortran. Designs become non-compact through accreting features and cruft that don't merge cleanly into the overall design scheme (thus, some fans of Classic C maintain that ANSI C is no longer compact).
(2008-10-13)