English Online Dictionary. What means contain? What does contain mean?
English
Etymology
From Middle English, borrowed from Old French contenir, from Latin continēre (“to hold or keep together, comprise, contain”), combined form of con- (“together”) + teneō (“to hold”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: kən-tānʹ, IPA(key): /kənˈteɪn/
- Rhymes: -eɪn
- Hyphenation: con‧tain
Verb
contain (third-person singular simple present contains, present participle containing, simple past and past participle contained)
- (transitive) To hold inside.
- (transitive) To include as a part.
- (transitive) To put constraints upon; to restrain; to confine; to keep within bounds.
- (mathematics, of a set etc., transitive) To have as an element or subset.
- (obsolete, intransitive) To restrain desire; to live in continence or chastity.
Usage notes
- This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs
Synonyms
- (hold inside): enclose, inhold
- (include as part): comprise, embody, incorporate, inhold
- (limit by restraint): control, curb, repress, restrain, restrict, stifle; See also Thesaurus:curb
Antonyms
- (antonym(s) of “include as part”): exclude, omit
- (antonym(s) of “limit by restraint”): release, vent
Derived terms
Related terms
- container
- containable
- containment
- content
- continence
Translations
Further reading
- “contain”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “contain”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
- “contain”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
- actinon, cantion, nanotic