dense

B2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈdɛns/ UK /dɛns/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like thence /ð/ vs /d/

adj Freq #9487

Meanings

1

adj
Containing a lot of things or people packed closely together.

The city has a dense population, with people living very close together.
2

adj
Thick and difficult to see or move through.

We could barely walk through the dense forest.
3

adj
Difficult to understand because it is full of complicated information.

The textbook was so dense that I had to read each page twice.
4

adj
Slow to understand things; not very intelligent.

Sorry, I'm being dense today, can you explain that again?

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · containing a lot of things... crowded compact packed thick

2 adj · thick and difficult to see... thick heavy

3 adj · difficult to understand... difficult impenetrable

4 adj · slow to understand things;... slow

Opposites

diffuse rarefied scattered sparse

Word family

Forms denserdensest

Derived forms dense-in-itselfdensen denseness densificationdensifydensimeterelectrodenseequidensehyperdensehypodenseisodensenondense

Etymology

From Middle French dense, from Latin dēnsus, from Proto-Indo-European *dens- (“thick, dense”) (whence also Ancient Greek δασύς (dasús)).

dense Middle French dēnsus Latin *dens- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

# dense

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈdɛns
**IPA (UK):** dɛns
**Frequency rank:** 9487

## Meanings
1. Containing a lot of things or people packed closely together.
2. Thick and difficult to see or move through.
3. Difficult to understand because it is full of complicated information.
4. Slow to understand things; not very intelligent.

## Examples
- The city has a dense population, with people living very close together.
- We could barely walk through the dense forest.
- The textbook was so dense that I had to read each page twice.
- Sorry, I'm being dense today, can you explain that again?

## Antonyms
- diffuse
- rarefied
- scattered
- sparse

## Derived Forms
- dense-in-itself
- densen
- denseness
- densification
- densify
- densimeter
- electrodense
- equidense
- hyperdense
- hypodense
- isodense
- nondense

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: dense
- Root: dēnsus
- Root: *dens-

## Etymology
From Middle French dense, from Latin dēnsus, from Proto-Indo-European *dens- (“thick, dense”) (whence also Ancient Greek δασύς (dasús)).

## AI Etymology
dense comes from Middle French dense, from Latin dēnsus, from Proto-Indo-European *dens- (“thick, dense”) (whence also Ancient Greek δασύς (dasús)). The historical chain includes Middle French dense, Latin dēnsus, Proto-Indo-European *dens-. Current senses include Containing a lot of things or people packed closely together and Thick and difficult to see or move through. English relatives and later formations include dense-in-itself, densen, denseness.

## Topics
- People & Society

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