Skip to main content
PlainSpell

condense

/kənˈdɛns/verb

condense is spelled C-O-N-D-E-N-S-E: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 41,154th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, condense means “To concentrate toward the essence by making more close, compact, or dense, thereby decreasing size or volume” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in condense?

Letters8: C-O-N-D-E-N-S-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 41,154th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is condense?

Condense appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 41,154th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce condense?

  • /kənˈdɛns/

Condense has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-condense.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of condense

  • condenses present, singular, he/she/it
  • condensing participle, present
  • condensed participle, past
  • more condense comparative
  • most condense superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does condense mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To concentrate toward the essence by making more close, compact, or dense, thereby decreasing size or volume.

    An abridged dictionary can be further condensed to pocket size.

  2. 2

    To transform from a gaseous state into a liquid state via condensation.

  3. 3

    To be transformed from a gaseous state into a liquid state.

    Water condenses on the window on cold days because of the warm air inside.

adjective

  1. 1

    archaicCondensed; compact; dense.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Condense in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcondenser (to concentrate toward the essence), se condenser (to be transformed from a gaseous state into a…)
Germankondensieren, verkleinern (to concentrate toward the essence)
Spanishcondensar (to concentrate toward the essence), condensarse (to be transformed from a gaseous state into a…)
Portuguesecondensar-se (to be transformed from a gaseous state into a…), condensar (to transform from a gaseous state into a liquid…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does condense come from?

Borrowed from Middle French condenser, from Latin condēnsō.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after condense