compact

plural compacts

1. An agreement or contract.

   After taking over this month as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, a nonpartisan coalition of city mayors, he urged members to sign a “crypto compact” calling on the federal government to eschew overly aggressive regulation of the industry.

   2022 January 25, David Yaffe-Bellany, “The Rise of the Crypto Mayors”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   2 more examples

   President Biden laid out an ambitious agenda on Wednesday night to rewrite the American social compact by vastly expanding family leave, child care, health care, preschool and college education for millions of people to be financed with increased taxes on the wealthiest earners.

   2021 April 29, Peter Baker, “Biden Seeks Shift in How the Nation Serves Its People”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Countering this in international media by offering more balanced views for a global audience is near impossible as censorship is rife. There almost seems to be a global compact to control the narrative, a propaganda war powered by today’s digital technology.

   2023 February 21, Chandran Nair, “Anti-China Rhetoric Is Off the Charts in Western Media”, in The Diplomat

   Synonyms: agreement, contract, pact, treaty

present singular third person compacts · participle present compacting · participle past compacted · past compacted

1. intransitiveTo form an agreement or contract.

   In return for the sovereign's protection, they compacted to police the content of public literature.

   2004, Ronan Deazley, On the Origin of the Right to Copy, page 94

1. archaicnot comparableAgreed, contracted.

   O Gorice XI., most glorious King of Witchland, and O Lord Goldry Bluszco, captain of the hosts of Demonland, it is compact betwixt you, and made fast by mighty oaths whereof I, the Red Foliot, am keeper, that ye shall wrastle three falls together on these conditions, […]

   1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 20

comparative more compact · comparative compacter · superlative most compact · superlative compactest

1. Closely packed or densely constituted; having much material in a small volume.

   glass, crystal, gems, and other compact bodies

   1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: concentrated, crowded, dense, serried

2. Having all necessary features fitting neatly into a small space.

   a compact laptop computer

3. Brief and pithy; not verbose.

   a compact discourse

4. Of a topological space:
   1. not comparablemathematicsSuch that every open cover has a finite subcover. In a metric space, this is equivalent to being sequentially compact. In metric spaces with the Heine-Borel property, this is equivalent to being closed and bounded.

      Synonyms: quasi-compact

   2. not comparablemathematicsCompact in the above sense and moreover Hausdorff.
5. obsoleteJoined or held together; leagued; confederated.

   a pipe of seven reeds, compact with wax together

   1622, Henry Peacham (Junior), The Compleat Gentleman

   1 more example

   Thou fooliſh Frier, and thou pernicious woman / Compact with her that's gone:

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 81

6. obsoleteComposed or made; with of.

   A wandering fire, / Compact of unctuous vapor.

   1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

plural compacts

1. A slim folding case, often featuring a mirror, powder and a powder puff, small enough to fit in a woman's purse, handbag, or pocket.

   Synonyms: powder box

2. An automobile that is larger than a subcompact but smaller than an intermediate.
3. A broadsheet newspaper published in the size of a tabloid but keeping its non-sensational style.

   The Dundee Courier has announced the newspaper will be relaunching as a compact later this week. Editor Richard Neville said a "brighter, bolder" paper would appear from Saturday, shrunk from broadsheet to tabloid size.

   2012, BBC News, Dundee Courier makes move to compact

present singular third person compacts · participle present compacting · participle past compacted · past compacted

1. transitiveTo make more dense; to compress.

   You need to excavate and remove the topsoil, line the subsoil with a geotextile, then lay and compact hardcore.

   2014 August 24, Jeff Howell, “Home improvements: gravel paths and cutting heating bills [print version: Cold comfort in technology, 23 August 2014, p. P5]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Property)

   Synonyms: compress

2. To unite or connect firmly, as in a system.

   The whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ephesians 4:16