compress

Fetched 2026-10-27 (live).

Synonyms: comprise, impress, compass, congress, decompress, oppress, empress, comprises, compels, umpress, copless

Antonyms: comprise, impress, compass, congress, decompress, oppress, empress, comprises, compels, umpress, copless

Related words from Datamuse; suggestions, not definitions.

Verb

1. To make smaller; to press or squeeze together, or to make something occupy a smaller space or volume.
   • The force required to compress a spring varies linearly with the displacement.
2. To be pressed together or folded by compression into a more economic, easier format.
   • Our new model compresses easily, ideal for storage and travel
3. To condense into a more economic, easier format.
   • This chart compresses the entire audit report into a few lines on a single diagram.
4. To abridge.
   • If you try to compress the entire book into a three-sentence summary, you will lose a lot of information.
5. To make digital information smaller by encoding it using fewer bits.
6. To make a pulse or particle bunch shorter by applying dispersion to it.
7. To embrace sexually.

Noun

1. A multiply folded piece of cloth, a pouch of ice, etc., used to apply to a patient's skin, cover the dressing of wounds, and placed with the aid of a bandage to apply pressure on an injury.
   • He held a cold compress over the sprain.
2. A machine for compressing.

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wiktionary) · cached copy, not a rewrite.