contained
[kuh n-teynd]
- showing restraint or calmness; controlled; poised: She was contained throughout the ordeal.
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Origin of contained
contain
[kuh n-teyn]
- 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.
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Origin of contain
Synonyms
See more synonyms for contain on Thesaurus.com3. embody, embrace.
Synonym study
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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for contained
Contemporary Examples
Coca-Cola was a wildly popular drink and hangover remedy because, well, it contained cocaine.
According to court testimony by the lead NCIS investigator, it contained various mobile phones and even valuable letters.
You may be wondering what work of monumental consequence is contained within these gilded pages.
Many of the answers to how we make the world better for children—and better for all of us—are contained here.
The Ebola epidemic is containable, but it has not been contained.
Historical Examples
Six lines would have contained all that is in it to the purpose of my story.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
All such information should, as I have said, be contained in the "history" of Scripture.
A Theological-Political Treatise [Part II]Benedict of Spinoza
What warning is contained in the Conclusion of the Commandments?
An Explanation of Luther's Small CatechismJoseph Stump
The letter, hastening to its destination, had contained the stolen money.
ThoroughbredsW. A. Fraser
The library was to remain absolutely untouched and what it contained was Linda's.
Her Father's DaughterGene Stratton-Porter
contain
- 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
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for contained
contain
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper