Compressed means pressed or squeezed into a smaller space, or shortened to take less time. When you pack a suitcase for vacation, you might compress your clothes by rolling them tightly or sitting on the suitcase to squeeze everything in. Air can be compressed too: when you pump up a bicycle tire, you're forcing more and more air molecules into the same space, compressing them until the tire feels hard.

In the digital world, files get compressed to take up less space on a computer. A compressed video file might be one-tenth the size of the original, making it faster to download or send. The information is still there, just packed more efficiently.

The word also describes something shortened in time. A teacher might give a compressed version of a long story, hitting just the main points. When snow gets walked on repeatedly, it becomes compressed into hard-packed snow or ice.

The opposite is expanded or decompressed. Think of a spring: when you squeeze it, it's compressed; when you let go, it expands back to its original shape.