remain
Americanverb (used without object)
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remains,
present (3rd person singular)
-
remained,
past participle, past
-
remaining
present participle
-
to continue in the same state; continue to be as specified.
to remain at peace.
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to stay behind or in the same place.
to remain at home;
I'll remain here when you go to the airport.
- Antonyms:
- depart
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to be left after the removal, loss, destruction, etc., of all else.
The front wall is all that remains of the fort.
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to be left to be done, told, shown, etc..
Only the dishwashing remains.
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to be reserved or in store.
noun
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Usually remains. something that remains or is left.
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remains,
-
miscellaneous, fragmentary, or other writings still unpublished at the time of an author's death.
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traces of some quality, condition, etc.
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a dead body; corpse.
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parts or substances remaining from animal or plant life that occur in the earth's crust or strata.
fossil remains;
organic remains.
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verb
-
to stay behind or in the same place
to remain at home
only Tom remained
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(copula) to continue to be
to remain cheerful
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to be left, as after use, consumption, the passage of time, etc
a little wine still remained in the bottle
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to be left to be done, said, etc
it remains to be pointed out
Synonym Usage
See continue.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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remainsimple
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remainssimple
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have remainedperfect
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has remainedperfect
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am remainingprogressive
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are remainingprogressive
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is remainingprogressive
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have been remainingperfect progressive
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has been remainingperfect progressive
Past
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remainedsimple
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had remainedperfect
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was remainingprogressive
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were remainingprogressive
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had been remainingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of remain
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English remainen, from Anglo-French remain-, stressed stem of Middle French remanoir, from Latin remanēre, equivalent to re- re- + manēre “to stay”; see manor
Explanation
To remain is to stay in the same place or situation. You can remain at home instead of going out to the movies with your friends, but that doesn't mean you won't remain friends. If things remain the same, they don't change, and if your family remains in the same town, they don't move. When something is left behind, it also remains: "All that remains of my party is a bunch of deflated balloons." In the fifteenth century, remain was a noun too, meaning "people or things left over or surviving." Today we use remainder instead.
Vocabulary lists containing remain
"The Earth Under Sky Bear's Feet"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The Woodland Trust reckons there are only 39,000 of them left, while the Save Our Reds campaign thinks just 15,000 remain, including in conservation areas such as Formby on Merseyside.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
Researchers have identified early molecular warning signs of inflammatory bowel disease that may appear before symptoms and remain active even when patients seem to be doing well.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
“We are proud of our key leadership hires and continuous infrastructure upgrades and we have quickly scaled and remain focused on growing responsibly at the frontier of finance, tech, and culture.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
That’s because the tight turns and circles could result in a crash if all helicopters remain in pursuit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
“Why would I condemn me and mine to remain in the dark, unseen? I have been dead for too long, Miss Harari. I grow weary of it.”
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
So we put it in the Palisades, where it remains today.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
Even in El Salvador, which made Bitcoin a national currency and offered citizens $30 to get started with the cryptocurrency, adoption remains very low.
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
However, the future of the project remains uncertain because funding was coming to an end, Juyon said.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
Laboratory access remains limited in parts of the DRC, Sullivan found, and samples may need to travel considerable distances to reach national reference laboratories.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
Its fluffy coating of white feathers was flattened with salt spray, making it look—and smell— convincingly like a large white seabird, or the remains of one.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
On Sunday morning, one fire engine remained at the scene monitoring for hotspots.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
That extensive record allowed the team to compare storms that eventually became vertically aligned with those that remained tilted.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
Rates of fraud remained elevated for months after the February attack, people familiar with the matter said, though they didn’t again reach 80%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Officials last year said cleanup would proceed slowly, because of the risk of igniting another fire while removing the thousands of charged batteries that remained on site.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
When the people you loved left, that love remained, floating around, desperate for a place to go.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
More trees are vital to the overall health of the remaining population in Altadena.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
However, Atak was seen during 90 minutes of aerial footage to be piloting the vessel using its one remaining functioning engine, the court heard.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
“The company is in excellent hands, and I look forward to remaining a shareholder alongside you.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
He is hoping for a cash sale so that he can at least pay off the remaining $25,000 balance on his mortgage.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
I put on my coat and stick the remaining unread pages of Alex’s rolled-up manuscript in my pocket.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
