n.
Pronunciation: k ə m- ' pakt, käm- ' , ' käm- ˌ
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, firmly put together, from Latin compactus, from past participle of compingere to put together, from com- + pangere to fasten ― more at PACT
Date: 14th century
1 : predominantly formed or filled : COMPOSED , MADE
2 a : having a dense structure or parts or units closely packed or joined <a compact woolen> < compact bone> b : not diffuse or verbose <a compact statement> c : occupying a small volume by reason of efficient use of space <a compact camera> <a compact formation of troops> d : short-bodied, solid, and without excess flesh
3 : being a topological space and especially 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 · ly \ - ' pak(t)-l ē , - ˌ pak(t)- \ adverb
– com · pact · ness \ - ' pak(t)-n ə s, - ˌ pak(t)- \ noun