Concentrate and scatter are opposites. Concentrate is to draw scattered things together to one central point, to make something denser, or to focus. Scatter is to throw or send things in different directions so they spread out irregularly. Concentrate gathers to a point; scatter flings apart at random.
One draws things to a single point; the other throws them apart in disorder. Concentrate, from centrum 'centre', gathers scattered things to a central point and intensifies them. Scatter, close to 'shatter', throws things out in every direction so they land with no pattern. A lens concentrates sunlight to a burning dot; a break shot scatters the balls across the table. One masses things at a point; the other flings them wide.
concentrate
To concentrate is to gather toward one centre until it is strong — from the Latin com- 'together' and centrum 'centre'. Scattered forces concentrate at a border; a reader concentrates on a page, pulling stray attention to one point; boiling concentrates a juice by driving off its water. As a noun, a concentrate is what is left when the water is gone: the same substance, no longer spread thin. To consolidate holdings is close, but concentrate keeps the sense of intensity growing as things gather.
scatter
To scatter is to send things flying apart so they land here and there with no order — a handful of gravel flung across a path, papers blown off a desk, a flock startled into the air. The word stresses suddenness and irregularity: what scatters is strewn unevenly and left wherever it falls, not neatly distributed. It works both ways, much like its cousin disperse — a crowd can scatter, or police can scatter it — but where disperse suggests an even thinning-away, scatter keeps that sense of a sudden, random fling.
| concentrate | scatter | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | gather to one point; make denser | throw things apart in all directions |
| Direction | inward, to a centre | outward, at random |
| The result | massed, intense at a point | an irregular, patternless spread |
| Often with | attention, power, forces, a solution | balls, papers, seeds, a crowd |
| Noun | concentration | scattering / a scatter |
| Example | Concentrate the forces. | The papers scattered. |
Ask whether things gather to a point or fly apart. Concentrate draws scattered things inward to one centre, dense and intense — light pulled to a burning dot. Scatter flings an arrangement apart with no pattern — a racked triangle of balls broken across the table. If things gather to a point, that is concentrate; if they are thrown apart at random, that is scatter.
concentrate
- iThe general concentrated his forces at the bridge.
- iiThe lens concentrates the light onto one spot.
- iiiShe concentrated her effort on the final push.
scatter
- iA gust scattered the papers across the yard.
- iiThe crowd scattered the moment the alarm sounded.
- iiiShe scattered the seeds by hand across the bed.
Concentrate gathers to a point and intensifies; scatter flings apart at random. The contrast is in both direction and order: concentration is a deliberate massing at a centre, while scattering is a sudden, patternless spread. Concentrate can also mean to focus the mind — the opposite of a scattered, distracted attention.
A useful pair for strategy, science and even study skills. Concentrate suits massing to a point or focusing — 'concentrate forces', 'concentrate on the task'. Scatter suits a random flinging-apart — 'scattered showers', 'papers scattered', 'a scattered, distracted mind'. Note the neat figurative contrast: concentrated attention versus scattered attention. The nouns are concentration and scattering.