What does “dense” mean?
- 1
adjectivewith many things or people very close together
We walked through a dense forest.
- 2
adjectivedifficult to understand because it contains a lot of information
The report is dense and full of technical terms.
- 3
adjectiveslow to understand things; stupid
Sorry, I’m being dense. Can you explain again?
Dense at a glance
- Part of speech
- adjective
- CEFR level
- B2 (upper intermediate)
- Pronunciation
- /dɛns/ · DENSS
How to use “dense” correctly
Calling a person “dense” is informal and mildly rude. “Densely populated” is a frequent exam phrase.
Common phrases with “dense”
- dense fog
- densely populated
- dense forest
Synonyms, opposites and related words
Synonyms (similar meaning)
- thick
- compact
- crowded
Antonyms (opposite meaning)
- sparse
- thin
Word family
- density
- densely
“dense” is on these word lists
Learn these words next
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- substantial adjectiveB2large in amount, size or importance
- environmental adjectiveB2connected with the natural world and how people affect it
- incidental adjectiveC1happening as a minor part of something more important