contain
to hold or include within its volume or area: This glass contains water.This paddock contains our best horses.
to be capable of holding; have capacity for: The room will contain 75 persons safely.
to have as contents or constituent parts; comprise; include.
to keep under proper control; restrain: He could not contain his amusement.
to prevent or limit the expansion, influence, success, or advance of (a hostile nation, competitor, opposing force, natural disaster, etc.): to contain an epidemic.
to succeed in preventing the spread of: efforts to contain water pollution.
Mathematics. (of a number) to be a multiple of; be divisible by, without a remainder: Ten contains five.
to be equal to: A quart contains two pints.
Origin of contain
1synonym study For contain
Other words for contain
Other words from contain
- con·tain·a·ble, adjective
- pre·con·tain, verb (used with object)
- un·con·tain·a·ble, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use contain in a sentence
The most recent issue contains detailed instructions for building car bombs, and the magazine frequently draws up hit-lists.
U.S. Spies See Al Qaeda Fingerprints on Paris Massacre | Shane Harris, Nancy A. Youssef | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTIt also contains some clunky passages of adultery, temptations of the flesh, and general sexual awkwardness.
Powerful Congressman Writes About ‘Fleshy Breasts’ | Asawin Suebsaeng | January 7, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST“The play contains one five minute scene about James Hewitt,” Conway says.
Harry’s Daddy, and Diana’s ‘Murder’: Royal Rumors In a New Play | Tom Sykes | January 4, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThis monograph contains over 500 of his beautiful, emotional images as well as explores his life and development as an artist.
The Daily Beast’s 2014 Holiday Gift Guide: For the Andy Warhol in Your Life | Allison McNearney | November 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe observable Universe contains around 100 billion large galaxies and a comparable number of supermassive black holes.
The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one cities, near a hundred walled towns, and a great number of villages.
Gulliver's Travels | Jonathan SwiftIt contains above eighty thousand houses, and about six hundred thousand inhabitants.
Gulliver's Travels | Jonathan SwiftI claim that it contains many errors of fact, and the Higher Criticism supports the claim; as we shall see.
God and my Neighbour | Robert BlatchfordThe book contains many words in which some though not all of the letters are in italics, for example Swordsman.
Assimilative Memory | Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)Some writers state that each cell contains about one thousand seeds.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.
British Dictionary definitions for contain
/ (kənˈteɪn) /
to hold or be capable of holding or including within a fixed limit or area: this contains five pints
to keep (one's feelings, behaviour, etc) within bounds; restrain
to consist of; comprise: the book contains three different sections
military to prevent (enemy forces) from operating beyond a certain level or area
maths
to be a multiple of, leaving no remainder: 6 contains 2 and 3
to have as a subset
Origin of contain
1Derived forms of contain
- containable, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse