dense
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɛns/
rhymes: -ɛns
Forms: form: denser
form: densest
Etymology: From Middle French dense, from Latin dēnsus, from Proto-Indo-European *dens- (“thick, dense”) (whence also Ancient Greek δασύς (dasús)).
Senses: synonyms: solid
glosses: Having relatively high density.
examples: text: The regions of densest population are the tributaries and banks of the Huai above Pang-pu and the diked areas along the right bank of the Yangtze.[…]
There are four large towns—Ho-fei, the capital; Huai-nan; Pang-pu; and Wu-hu.
ref: 1998, The New Encyclopaedia Britannica: Macropaedia: Knowledge in Depth, →ISBN, →OCLC, pages 172, 173:
synonyms: word: compact
word: crowded
word: packed
word: close
word: compact
word: crowded
word: dense
word: solid
word: thick
word: tight
antonyms: word: diffuse
word: compact
word: dense
glosses: Compact; crowded together.
examples: text: ... mantling the slopes are other still denser forests, where the Pacara (Enterolobium timbavica), Lapacho (Tecoma stans), Quina-Quina (Myroxilon peruanum), urunday (allied to the Lapacho) Quefioa (Rosacea Polylepis racemosa), Cascaron ...
ref: 1881, Ernest William White, Cameos from the Silver-land: Or, The Experiences of a Young Naturalist in the Argentine Republic, London: J. Van Voorst, page 44:
text: And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
synonyms: thick
solid
antonyms: thin
glosses: Thick; difficult to penetrate.
synonyms: word: cloudy
word: opaque
word: adiaphanous
word: nontransparent
word: opacous
word: opacular
word: opaque
word: thick
antonyms: word: clear
word: diaphanous
word: see-through
word: translucent
word: transparent
word: hazy
word: opaque
word: translucent
word: opaque
word: transparent
word: turbid
glosses: Opaque; allowing little light to pass through.
examples: text: And if you're experiencing a weird sensation after that clip that you can't quite place, it's because it was nice! It was happy kids talking about how they're able to be themselves, and you don't usually get nice things on this show, which at this point is honestly mainly dense statistics and facts and occasional Pikachu porn!
ref: 2025 April 6, 31:34 from the start, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 12, episode 7, spoken by John Oliver, published 7 April 2025, retrieved 14 Apr 2025:
synonyms: word: abstruse
word: difficult
word: hard
word: incomprehensible
word: obscure
word: tough
word: abstruse
word: Chinese
word: dense
word: enigmatic
word: fathomless
word: Greek
word: inapprehensible
word: incognizable
word: incomprehensible
word: ineffable
word: inenubilable
word: inexplicable
word: impenetrable
word: insensible
word: inscrutable
word: insoluble
word: insolvable
word: mysterious
word: nonunderstandable
word: obscure
word: retruse
word: thick
word: undecipherable
word: undiscoverable
word: unexplainable
word: unfathomable
word: ungraspable
word: unintelligible
word: unknowable
word: ununderstandable
antonyms: word: clear
word: comprehensible
word: easy
word: simple
word: straightforward
word: understandable
word: confusing
word: incomprehensible
glosses: Obscure or difficult to understand.
topics: mathematics
sciences
topology
antonyms: meager
glosses: Such that its closure in T is T.
raw_tags: of a subset S of a topological space T
examples: text: There are times when systems like GPT-4 seem to mimic human reasoning, but there are also times when they seem terribly dense. “These behaviors are not always consistent,” Ece Kamar, a Microsoft researcher, said.
ref: 2023 May 16, Cade Metz, “Microsoft Says New A.I. Shows Signs of Human Reasoning”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
synonyms: word: dumb
word: slow
word: stupid
word: thick
word: addlebrained
word: addlepated
word: airheaded
word: bee-brained
word: beef-witted
word: beefheaded
word: beetle-headed
word: birdbrained
word: blockheaded
word: Boeotian
word: boneheaded
word: boofheaded
word: brainless
word: bubbleheaded
word: buffle-headed
word: bullet-headed
word: cerebrally challenged
word: childish
word: chowderheaded
word: chuckleheaded
word: crackbrained
word: cretinous
word: dense
word: dented
word: dim-bulb
word: dim-headed
word: dim-witted
word: dim
word: doltish
word: dopey
word: dozy
word: drowsy
word: dull-headed
word: dull-minded
word: dull-witted
word: dull
word: dumber than a box of rocks
word: dumb
word: dunderheaded
word: empty-headed
word: fatheaded
word: feeble-minded
word: flea-brained
word: foolish
word: fuzzy-headed
word: fuzzy-minded
word: half-brained
word: half-witted
word: hammer-headed
word: idiotic
word: imbecilic
word: inane
word: insipid
word: intellectually challenged
word: knuckleheaded
word: lamebrained
word: lowbrow
word: lumpish
word: lunkheaded
word: mentally challenged
word: mentally retarded
word: mindless
word: monosynaptic
word: moronic
word: muttonheaded
word: nitwitted
word: numbskulled
word: oafish
word: obtuse
word: peabrained
word: pratty
word: pudding-headed
word: puerile
word: purblind
word: quarter-witted
word: retarded
word: rockheaded
word: sharp as a bowling ball
word: sheep-headed
word: simple
word: slow-witted
word: slow
word: smooth-brained
word: stolid
word: stupid
word: thick-skulled
word: thickheaded
word: thickwitted
word: thick
word: unapprehensive
word: unclever
word: unintelligent
word: unsmart
word: vacant
word: vacuous
word: witless
word: wooden-headed
word: wool-headed
word: woolly-headed
word: woolly-minded
word: dumb as a bag of hammers
word: dumb as a box of rocks
word: dumb as a doorknob
word: dumb as an ox
word: dumb as a post
word: dumb as a sack of hammers
word: dumb as dirt
word: dumber than a rock
word: not the sharpest crayon in the box
word: not the sharpest knife in the drawer
word: not the sharpest tool in the shed
word: thick as a brick
word: thick as a plank
word: thick as champ
word: thick as mince
word: thick as two short planks
word: thick as a whale omelette
word: ass-brained
word: fuckwitted
word: shit-for-brains
word: thick as pig shit
antonyms: word: bright
word: canny
word: intelligent
word: quick
word: quick-witted
word: smart
word: brainless
word: dumb
word: foolish
word: idiotic
word: imbecile
word: insensible
word: lowbrow
word: mindless
word: stupid
word: unintelligent
word: witless
glosses: Slow to comprehend; of low intelligence. (of a person)
Derived terms: dense array
dense blazingstar
dense-in-itself
densen
denseness
densification
densify
densimeter
electrodense
equidense
hyperdense
hypodense
isodense
nondense
overdense
radiodense
superdense
ultradense
underdense