compress
UK[kəmˈprɛs]US[kəmˈprɛs]
v
To press or squeeze something so that it takes up less space.
v
To make something shorter or smaller, especially in computing to reduce the size of a digital file.
Morpheme Breakdown
com
press
com
together
press
press
Etymology
The word 'compress' has a transparent and logical construction from Latin. It is formed from the prefix 'com-', meaning 'together', and the verb 'pressare', a frequentative of 'premere', meaning 'to press'. The literal sense of 'pressing together' was directly borrowed into Middle English from the Latin 'compressare'. This concrete physical meaning has persisted into modern usage, while also extending logically into more abstract domains, such as the compression of data, which conceptually involves pressing information together into a smaller digital space.
Analysis
Structure: com (together) + press (press)
com: Latin origin, a prefix meaning "together" or "with".
press: Latin origin, from the root premere, meaning "to press".
Examples
She used a bandage to compress the wound and stop the bleeding.
You can compress these image files to save storage space on your drive.
The machine uses a piston to compress air into a high-pressure tank.