compaction
compaction Lexical Profile
compaction Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The act or process of pressing, packing, or squeezing something tightly together to reduce its volume or increase its density, or the state of being tightly packed.
"Heavy farm machinery can cause severe soil compaction, making it harder for plant roots to absorb water and nutrients."
In geology, the process by which the porosity of a given form of sediment is decreased as a result of its mineral grains being squeezed together by the weight of overlying sediment.
"Through millions of years of burial and compaction, the loose clay gradually turned into solid shale."
In computing, the process of gathering fragmented blocks of allocated memory or storage into a single contiguous area in order to reclaim free space.
"The database runs a scheduled compaction routine overnight to reclaim disk space and improve query performance."
• Rhymes for compaction
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late 14th century from Old French compaction or directly from Latin compactio ('a joining together'), from the past participle stem of compingere ('to fasten together, pack tightly'), formed from com- ('together') and pangere ('to fasten, drive in').