DictionaryAI

contain

verb
kuhn-TAYN/kənˈteɪn/

Formscontains, containing, contained

5 meanings of contain

Practice

  1. 1
    includeverbtransitive
    To include something as one of its parts or components; in mathematics, to have something as an element or a subset.

    The report contains several errors that need correcting.

    These documents contain sensitive information about employees.

    UsageA state verb, so rarely in continuous tenses: the report contains errors (not incorrect: is containing).

  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To hold something inside, keeping it enclosed within its boundaries.

    The reservoir contains enough water to supply the city for months.

    Each jar must contain exactly the same amount of jam.

    Similarhold, accommodate, store

    Note

    What contains need not be a box or a reservoir; it can be a room full of people. Walter Besant's novel The Ivory Gate has the parlour of the Salutation Inn that "contained most of its customary visitors."

  3. 3
    stop spreadingverbtransitive
    To keep something within limits; to restrain or confine it so it does not spread.

    Officials struggled to contain the spread of the disease.

    Strict budgets contained the project's costs throughout the year.

    UsageOften of things that spread: contain a fire, an outbreak, costs. With people, contain yourself means stay calm.

    Similarcontrol, curb, limit, restrain, check

    Note

    Restraint replaces enclosure here: what is contained is kept from spreading or breaking out. With people it is most often reflexive ("I can hardly contain myself"), and Shakespeare already writes "we can contain ourselves" in The Taming of the Shrew. Besant's The Ivory Gate plays this meaning against the enclosing sense, saying no cab could contain a young man in such a rage.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew contains the exact words 'we can contain ourselves', spoken by the First Player to the Lord in Induction, scene 1. folger-main-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com
    • Besant's The Ivory Gate describes a young man's rage as making containment in a cab impossible, connecting physical enclosure with emotional restraint. gutenberg.org

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    hold back feelingsverbtransitive
    To keep a strong emotion under control or prevent it from being openly expressed.

    He struggled to contain his grief while he gave the eulogy.

    Barely containing her laughter, she slipped out of the meeting.

    UsageUsually with words of strain and a strong feeling: barely contain your laughter, struggle to contain grief.

    Similarsuppress, restrain, control, stifle, curb

    Oppositeexpress, release

    Note

    The emotional use keeps the Latin picture of holding together: a feeling is treated as something that would spill over if it were not held in. It is a close cousin of the "keep within bounds" meaning, turned inward.

  2. 5
    verbobsoleteintransitive
    To restrain one's desires, and in particular to abstain from sexual activity and remain chaste.
    But if they cannot contain, let them marry.
    1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version
    Note

    Here the restraint has no object: one does not contain anything, one simply contains, holding desire in check. The King James Bible of 1611 puts it bluntly: "But if they cannot contain, let them marry." It is the intransitive offshoot of the "restrain" meaning, and it is obsolete.

Practice

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Origin

Latin continēre ("to hold or keep together, comprise, contain"), built from con- ("together") and teneō ("to hold"), passed into Old French as contenir and was borrowed from there into Middle English.