dense

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dens/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French dense and directly from Latin dēnsus, thick, crowded, cloudy,^[2][3][4] of uncertain origin,^[3] perhaps related to Ancient Greek δασύς (dasús), hairy, shaggy, thick with leaves,^[2][3][5] though even this is doubted.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Closely compacted, thick: probably before 1425,^[2] the early 15th century in Etymonline.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Of close molecular structure, as opposed to rare, is from 1599,^[6] and of things crowded closely together from 1776.^[6] The sense stupid, thick-headed, is first recorded in 1822,^[2][3] and of ignorance, profound or impenetrable, from 1877.^[6] Density is from 1603, in Holland's Plutarch.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1425 – thick, compact.^[2]
• 1599 – of close structure.^[6]
• 1603 – density.^[2]
• 1776 – closely crowded.^[6]
• 1822 – stupid.^[2][3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Closely crowded together; compact: a dense crowd.
2. Thick and hard to see through: dense fog.
3. (physics) Having a high density.
4. (informal) Stupid or slow to understand.

Word family

• densely
• denseness
• densify
• densimeter
• nondense
• superdense
• ultradense
• density

Related words

• condense

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press