Pressed together, reduced in size or volume by applying pressure, or made more compact.
From Latin 'compressus', past participle of 'comprimere' meaning 'to press together', from 'com-' (together) + 'premere' (to press). The digital sense emerged in computing contexts.
Data compression algorithms like ZIP can reduce file sizes by 90% or more by finding patterns and redundancies in information. Interestingly, some types of data like random noise or already-compressed files cannot be compressed further without losing information.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.