contain

[ kuhn-teyn ]

/ kənˈteɪn /

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See synonyms for: contain / contained / containing / contains on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object)

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.

OTHER WORDS FOR contain

3 embody, embrace.

See synonyms for contain on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of contain

1250–1300; Middle English conte(y)nen<Anglo-French contener,Old French contenir<Latin continēre, equivalent to con-con- + tenēre to hold (see tenet)

synonym study for contain

1. Contain, accommodate, hold, express the idea that something is so designed that something else can exist or be placed within it. Contain refers to what is actually within a given container. Hold emphasizes the idea of keeping within bounds; it refers also to the greatest amount or number that can be kept within a given container. Accommodate means to contain comfortably or conveniently, or to meet the needs of a certain number. A passenger plane that accommodates 50 passengers may be able to hold 60, but at a given time may contain only 30.

OTHER WORDS FROM contain

con·tain·a·ble, adjectivepre·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. 2023

How to use contain in a sentence

When we pee, the nitrogen is mostly contained in the compound urea.
Your pee could be the golden ticket to a greener world|Ula Chrobak|November 19, 2020|Popular-Science
The first contains potentially deadly substances— everything from arsenic to antifreeze.
Drug imports endanger patients like me|Brandon Macsata|November 13, 2020|Washington Blade
While STEVE’s green picket fence also contains glowing oxygen, a dearth of nitrogen emission hints that the fence is not the same kind of light show as an aurora.
STEVE may be even less like typical auroras than scientists thought|Maria Temming|November 12, 2020|Science News
To properly track and contain coronavirus outbreaks, states need to have enough testing.
How bad is your state’s Covid-19 outbreak?|German Lopez|November 11, 2020|Vox

Square continued the trend, posting a set of results that contains nearly all positive data for consumer fintech activity — with one critical caveat for Q4 that we’ll get to at the end.
Square and PayPal earnings bring good (and bad) news for fintech startups|Alex Wilhelm|November 11, 2020|TechCrunch
The Ebola epidemic is containable, but it has not been contained.
Fighting Ebola and Starvation in Sierra Leone|Abby Haglage|November 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST

British Dictionary definitions for contain

contain

/ (kənˈteɪn) /

verb (tr)

to hold or be capable of holding or including within a fixed limit or areathis contains five pints

to keep (one's feelings, behaviour, etc) within bounds; restrain

to consist of; comprisethe 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 remainder6 contains 2 and 3
to have as a subset

Derived forms of contain

containable, adjective

Word Origin for contain

C13: from Old French contenir, from Latin continēre, from com- together + tenēre to hold

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

contain

OTHER WORDS FOR contain

Origin of contain

synonym study for contain

OTHER WORDS FROM contain

Words related to contain

How to use contain in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for contain

Derived forms of contain

Word Origin for contain