content

English Online Dictionary. What means content‎? What does content mean?

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English contenten (“to satisfy”), from Latin contentus (“contained; satisfied”), past participle of continēre (“to contain”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: kəntĕnt', IPA^(key): /kənˈtɛnt/
• Rhymes: -ɛnt
• Hyphenation: con‧tent

Adjective

content (comparative more content or contenter, superlative most content)

2. Satisfied, pleased, contented.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

content (uncountable)

1. Satisfaction, contentment; pleasure.
2. (obsolete) Acquiescence without examination.
3. That which contents or satisfies; that which if attained would make one happy.
4. (UK, House of Lords) An expression of assent to a bill or motion; an affirmative vote.
5. (UK, House of Lords, by metonymy) A member who votes in assent.

Derived terms

Interjection

content

1. (archaic) Alright, agreed.

Verb

content (third-person singular simple present contents, present participle contenting, simple past and past participle contented)

2. (transitive) To give contentment or satisfaction to; to satisfy; to make happy.

   Synonyms: elate, hearten; see also Thesaurus:gladden
3. (transitive, obsolete) To satisfy the expectations of; to pay; to requite.

Derived terms

• contentable

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English content (plural contentes, contence), from Latin contentus, past participle of continēre (“to hold in, contain”), as Etymology 1, above. English apparently developed a substantive form of the adjective, which is not mirrored in Romance languages.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒn.tɛnt/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔn.tɛnt/
• (General American, Canada) enPR: kŏn'tĕnt, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑn.tɛnt/
• Rhymes: -ɔntɛnt, -ɒntɛnt, -ɑntɛnt
• Hyphenation: con‧tent

Adjective

content (comparative more content, superlative most content)

1. (obsolete) Contained.

Noun

content (countable and uncountable, plural contents)

1. (uncountable) That which is contained.

   Synonym: contents

3. Subject matter; semantic information (or a portion or body thereof); that which is contained in writing, speech, video, etc.
   1. (by extension, uncountable) One or more creative works.
4. The amount of material contained.

5. (obsolete) Capacity for containing.
6. (mathematics) The n-dimensional space contained by an n-dimensional polytope (called volume in the case of a polyhedron and area in the case of a polygon); length, area or volume, generalized to an arbitrary number of dimensions.
7. (algebra, ring theory, of a polynomial with coefficients in a GCD domain) The greatest common divisor of the coefficients; (of a polynomial with coefficients in an integral domain) the common factor of the coefficients which, when removed, leaves the adjusted coefficients with no common factor that is noninvertible.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Russian: контент (kontent)
  • → Armenian: կոնտենտ (kontent)

Translations

Related terms

Further reading

• “content”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “content”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Connett

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin contentus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kunˈten]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [konˈtent]

Adjective

content (feminine contenta, masculine plural contents, feminine plural contentes)

1. content, satisfied, pleased

   Antonym: descontent

Derived terms

• descontent

Further reading

• “content” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “content”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “content” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “content” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch content, from Old French content, from Latin contentus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔnˈtɛnt/
• Hyphenation: con‧tent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Adjective

content (comparative contenter, superlative contentst)

1. content(ed), satisfied

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English content.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔn.tɛnt/, /ˈkɑn.tɛnt/
• Hyphenation: con‧tent

Noun

content m (uncountable)

1. the content of a medium

   Synonym: inhoud

French

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle French content, from Old French, borrowed from Latin contentus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.tɑ̃/
• Homophones: comptant, contant, contents

Adjective

content (feminine contente, masculine plural contents, feminine plural contentes)

1. content, satisfied, pleased

   Synonym: satisfait

Derived terms

Descendants

• Louisiana Creole: konten

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃t/
• Homophones: compte, comptent, comptes, comte, comtes, conte, contes

Verb

content

1. third-person plural present/subjunctive of conter

Further reading

• “content”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Louisiana Creole

Etymology

From French content (“content”), compare Haitian Creole kontan.

Verb

content

1. to be contented

References

• Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French content, borrowed from Latin contentus.

Adjective

content m (feminine singular contente, masculine plural contens, feminine plural contentes)

1. happy; satisfied; content

Descendants

• French: content

Norman

Alternative forms

• caontent (Guernsey)

Etymology

From Old French, borrowed from Latin contentus (“having been held together, contained”), from contineō, continēre (“hold or keep together, surround, contain”).

Adjective

content m

1. (Jersey) happy