| 释义 |
com·pact
I. \kəmˈpakt, (ˈ)käm|pakt\ adjective
(sometimes -er/-est)
Etymology: Middle English compacte, from Latin compactus, past participle of compingere to join, from com- + pangere to fasten — more at pact
1. obsolete : firmly put together, joined, or integrated
2. : predominantly formed or filled : composed, made — usually used with of
< a figure compact of chivalry and faith >
< Miss Austen's novels are compact of delicate trivialities — Samuel Alexander >
3. : marked by an arrangement of parts or units closely pressed, packed, grouped, or knit together with very slight intervals or intervening space: as
a. : brief, pithy
< compact language >
< a compact style >
< a compact writer >
: not diffuse or verbose
< a compact statement >
b. : having the twigs or branches so close together as to form a dense often rounded mass
< compact evergreens >
c. of bone : lacking in obvious interstices : dense, solid — compare cancellous
d. : dense 5
4.
a. : suggesting firmness, soundness, and a degree of strength : not gangling, weak, spare, or ill-formed in appearance : solid and without excess flesh
< he had a small, compact body that looked full of life — D.H.Lawrence >
b. of an animal : close-coupled : stocky, cobby
5. : marked by concentration in a limited area : homogeneous and located within a limited definite space without straggling or rambling over a wide area
< his long narrow strips did not lie next to one another in a compact farm — G.M.Trevelyan >
< downtown San Francisco, compact and accessible — American Guide Series: California >
Synonyms: see close
II. verb
(-ed/-ing/-s)
transitive verb
1.
a. : to knit or draw together (as into a unified or coherent whole) : combine, consolidate
< racial and religious similarities helped compact the tribes into a great nation >
b. : to press together (as parts, components, segments) : compress
< thousands of crates compacted in a warehouse >
< a great human document, compacting the experience and reflection of a … unified life — M.R.Cohen >
2. : to make up (as by uniting, connecting, combining) : compose, create
< a mob compacted of all the more violent elements of the underworld >
intransitive verb
: to become compacted
< the old snow had compacted into the hardness of ice >
Synonyms: see unify
III. \ˈkämˌpakt\ noun
(-s)
1.
a. : a compacted body, structure, or unit
< the compact of business families forming the upper classes — Hugh MacLennan >
b. : an object produced by the compression of metal powders
2. : a small cosmetic case for the purse
3. : a small automobile
IV. intransitive verb
(-ed/-ing/-s)
Etymology: Middle French compacter, from compact agreement, from Latin compactum
: to make a formal agreement
V. noun
(-s)
Etymology: Latin compactum agreement, from neuter of compactus past participle of compacisci to make an agreement, from com- + pacisci to agree, contract — more at pact
1. obsolete : conspiracy, plot
2. : an agreement, understanding, or covenant between two or more parties
< the matrimonial compact >
< a compact with the devil >
< a five-nation compact to control opium traffic >
specifically : an interstate agreement entered into to handle a particular problem or task
< a Colorado River Compact … allocating rights to the waters of the Colorado among seven states — F.A.Ogg & P.O.Ray >
3. : social contract
< a man not having the power of his own life cannot by compact … enslave himself to anyone — John Locke >
VI. adjective
: being a topological space (as a metric space) with the property that for any collection of open sets which contains it there is a subset of the collection with a finite number of elements which also contains it
• com·pact·ness noun |