Word Confusion: Concentrated versus Concerted

Posted October 14, 2021 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

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We made a concerted effort to put that dinner together.

As Paul Brians points out in his Common Errors in English Usage, “To work in concert is to work together with others.”

Both adjectives, concentrated is undiluted, having a high concentration while concerted is performed through a group effort or done with great effort or determination.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.

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Concentrated	Concerted
Lemon Concentrated is under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Open Food Facts.	Pink Geyser Concerted Eruption, evening, 1 June 2018, Yellowstone Park, by James St. John is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Flickr.
Part of Grammar:
Adjective Concentrated is also a verb, which won’t be addressed in this post.	Adjective Concerted is also a verb, which won’t be addressed in this post.
Wholly directed to one thing Intense Clustered or gathered together closely [Of a substance or solution] Present in a high proportion relative to other substances Treated to remove or reduce an inessential ingredient, especially liquid	Jointly arranged, planned, or carried out Coordinated Strenuously carried out Done with great effort or determination [Of music] Arranged in several parts of equal importance for voices or instruments
Examples:
With so little time before the end of the conference, they began a concentrated campaign for their product. The concentrated fire from the enemy destroyed our fortifications. Concentrated fruit juice is practical for transport and storage. Their concentrated efforts to win the election were noted. But they ignore the fact that the Loyalists have carried out a concentrated campaign of pipe bombing and petrol bombing and have even shot at children over the last year. Sauteing releases and evaporates most of the liquid from mushrooms for an intense, highly concentrated flavor.	He was determined to begin a concerted action against them. It would take a concerted effort for a burglar to break into my home. You must make a concerted effort to curb this. The piece was concerted secular music for voices.
Derivatives:
Adjective: nonconcentrated, superconcentrated, unconcentrated Adverb: concentratedly, unconcentratedly Verb: concentrated	Adjective: preconcerted, unconcerted Adverb: concertedly, unconcertedly Noun: concert, concertedness Verb: concerted
History of the Word:
First recorded in 1680–90, as concentrate + –ed, from the mid-17th century (in the sense bring towards a center, from the Latinized form of concenter, or from the French concentrer meaning to concentrate.	1710–20; concert (verb) + –ed from the late 16th century (in the sense unite), is from the French concerter, from the Italian concertare meaning harmonize. The noun use, dating from the early 17th century (in the sense a combination of voices or sounds), is from the French concert, from the Italian concerto, which is from concertare.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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