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