Showing results for "remains"

• present tense form of remain (3rd person singular).

remains

British  

/ rɪˈmeɪnz /

plural noun

1. any pieces, scraps, fragments, etc, that are left unused or still extant, as after use, consumption, the passage of time, etc

   the remains of a meal

   archaeological remains

2. the body of a dead person; corpse

3. Also called: literary remains.  the unpublished writings of an author at the time of his or her death

---

Explanation

The word remains can mean a dead body, so a detective might investigate to find out if some bones found in a lake are human or non-human remains. You can also use remains to mean the part of something that's left behind after the rest has been used or thrown away. So the remains of your birthday cake might just be some crumbs and melted candles, and the remains of a building after an earthquake could consist of a crumbling foundation. In a murder mystery, though, remains are likely to be human bodies.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

remains

New commerce department data showed Wednesday that the Fed’s preferred gauge of monthly price increases grew last month and remains above the central bank’s preferred target range.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

Until the bill is signed into law, California remains one of three states in the U.S. without a minimum age to get married or enter into a domestic partnership.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Low pressure remains in charge on Monday meaning strong winds and further showers, perhaps heaviest across the north of the UK.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

Even so, he remains deeply unpopular with the electorate as a whole.

From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026

A century-and-a-half after it sunk the Housatonic and more than twenty years after the submarine was raised, it remains a mystery.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler

Related Words

• debris
• remnant