Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In petrography, dense without pores: also applied to extremely fine-grained textures in which the individual crystals or grains cannot be seen by the unaided eye: equivalent to aphanitic, cryptocrystalline, and cryptoclastic.
  • Closely and firmly united, as the parts or particles of solid bodies; having the parts or particles pressed or packed together; solid; dense: as, a compact mass of people.
  • In entomology, specifically, compacted or pressed close, as a jointed organ, or any part of it, when the joints are very closely united, forming a continuous mass: as, a compact antennal club; compact palpi.
  • Connected or expressed with closeness or brevity, as ideas; hence, of literary style, pithy; terse; not diffuse; not verbose: as, a compact discourse.
  • Compacted; joined; held together.
  • Composed; consisting; made.
  • Synonyms Firm, condensed.
  • Terse, sententious, succinct concise.
  • noun Structure; frame.
  • To make a contract or enter into an agreement.
  • noun An agreement; a contract between parties; in general, any covenant or contract between individuals, members of a community, or nations.
  • To thrust, drive, pack, or press closely together; join firmly; consolidate, as the parts which compose a body; condense.
  • To unite or connect firmly, as in a system; join the parts of tightly; bring into close junction, as the sheets of a book or other loose materials, by heating, pressure, or the like.
  • To make firm or stable; establish firmly; confirm; solidify.
  • United in a compact; leagued; confederated.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An agreement between parties; a covenant or contract.
  • past participle obsolete Joined or held together; leagued; confederated.
  • past participle Poetic Composed or made; -- with of.
  • past participle Closely or firmly united, as the particles of solid bodies; firm; close; solid; dense.
  • past participle Brief; close; pithy; not diffuse; not verbose.
  • transitive verb To thrust, drive, or press closely together; to join firmly; to consolidate; to make close; -- as the parts which compose a body.
  • transitive verb To unite or connect firmly, as in a system.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Closely packed, i.e. packing much in a small space.
  • adjective Having all necessary features fitting neatly into a small space.
  • adjective mathematics Closed and bounded.
  • adjective topology Such that every exhaustion of it by (overlapping) open balls has the property that some finitely many of those balls will also cover it.
  • adjective topology, of a set Such that every open cover of the given set has a finite subcover.
  • noun A small, slim folding case, often featuring a mirror, powder and a powderpuff; that fits into a woman's purse or handbag, or that slips into ones pocket.
  • noun A broadsheet newspaper published in the size of a tabloid but keeping its non-sensational style.
  • verb transitive To make more dense; to compress.
  • noun An agreement or contract.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make more compact by or as if by pressing
  • noun a signed written agreement between two or more parties (nations) to perform some action
  • adjective briefly giving the gist of something
  • noun a small and economical car
  • verb squeeze or press together
  • adjective closely and firmly united or packed together
  • verb have the property of being packable or of compacting easily
  • noun a small cosmetics case with a mirror; to be carried in a woman's purse
  • adjective having a short and solid form or stature
  • verb compress into a wad

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Latin compāctus, perfect passive participle of compingō ("join together"), from com- ("together") + pangō ("fasten"), from Proto-Indo-European *pag- (“to fasten”).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin compactum ("agreement").

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Examples

  • The nominally, but not practically, five-seat Juke is built on the Versa platform and gives new meaning to the word compact when related to CUVs.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed BOB ENGLISH 2011

  • Kaleidescape has announced a new multi-zone entertainment server in what it calls a compact and affordable package.

    I4U News 2009

  • Kaleidescape has announced a new multi-zone entertainment server in what it calls a compact and affordable package.

    I4U News 2009

  • There are, of course, all sorts of technical constitutional questions about the ability of one Congress to bind another -- I think that the "compact" is probably not binding -- but we're ultimately talking about the proper relationship between the US and what remains the world's largest colony (i.e., a territory held by a national polity that does not give the territory any participation rights in the national polity itself).

    Balkinization 2007

  • SUVs in "compact" spots, squeezing me between like a dinghy sneaking between cruiseliners.

    Fear the dented Datsun. Jessica Hagy 2006

  • So to say that a single sentence in the 14th amendment operates as some sort of compressed zip file that clearly and lucidly by its terms overrides whatever in the Constitution appears to run afoul of more modern ideas of the political compact is ludicrous.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Kagan’s New View of Confirmation Hearings? 2010

  • On an otherwise peaceful day, the three come across a mysterious Kirumin compact in an attic.

    Anime Preview: Fall 2009 « Undercover 2009

  • I'm sure the city can make it fit, they specialize in compact urban development.

    Strike 2 (Jack Bog's Blog) 2009

  • Mercury helps produce light in compact fluorescent bulbs and that's been a concern to some consumers worried about the element's toxicity.

    CFL makers commit to reducing mercury content 2010

  • Mercury helps produce light in compact fluorescent bulbs and that's been a concern to some consumers worried about the element's toxicity.

    Seeing the light, CFL makers agree to lower mercury content 2010

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