DictionaryAI

include

in-KLOOD/ɪnˈkluːd/

Formsincludes, including, included

6 meanings of include

Practice

  1. 1
    containverbtransitive
    To have or count something as one of its parts or members.

    The subscription includes access to every back issue.

    These benefits include health insurance and paid leave.

    UsageUsually names some of the parts, not the full list; for every part, consist of fits better. Up to and including counts the limit in.

    Similarcontain, cover, comprise, encompass

    Note

    Containment rather than action: the subject is the whole, and the object is one of its parts, as when a volume includes the sonnets or a price includes tax.

  2. 2
    put inverbtransitive
    To bring someone or something into a group, class, set, or total as a part or member.

    The committee voted to include her among the finalists.

    Organizers included several local artists in the festival lineup.

    UsageInclude someone in or among a group, and something in or on a list or form.

    Similaradd, count, incorporate

    Oppositeexclude, omit

    Note

    Here someone does the including: a buyer asks a seller to include car rental, or a committee includes a finalist. The same words can carry the containing meaning, where the package itself includes car rental. To tell them apart, look at the subject. A person choosing to add something points here, while a thing that already holds the part points there.

  3. 3
    verbobsolete
    To shut something in or hold it within set limits; to enclose or confine.
    I could have here willingly ranged, but these straits wherein I am included will not permit.
    New York, 2001
    Note

    This is the sense closest to the Latin. Inclūdere, from in- "in" and claudere "to shut", meant to shut in, and include is a doublet of enclose. It replaced Old English belūcan, which also meant to shut in. A line like "these straits wherein I am included" means hemmed in, not counted among.

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    verbobsolete
    To bring something to a close; to conclude or terminate it.
    Come, let us go; we will include all jars / With triumphs, mirth, and rare solemnity.
    c. 1590, William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”
    Note

    Shakespeare uses it in The Two Gentlemen of Verona (c. 1590–1591): "we will include all jars / With triumphs, mirth, and rare solemnity", meaning quarrels are to be ended with celebration. The construction is include something with whatever closes it. It shares the Latin "shut" root with the enclosing sense, since to shut a matter off is to finish it.

  2. 5
    verb
    To use a directive that allows source code from another file to be used in the current one.
  3. 6
    noun
    A separate block of code or other material that is fetched on demand and inserted into another file or page.

Use it in a sentence

Write your own sentence with include, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.

Origin

Latin inclūdere ("to shut in, enclose"), made of in- ("in") and claudere ("to shut"), was borrowed into Middle English as includen; its root is a Proto-Indo-European word meaning "key" or "hook." It is a doublet of enclose and pushed out the native Old English belūcan.