contain
To hold inside.
Verb 4 meanings
To hold inside.
“The brown box contains three stacks of books.”
To include as a part.
“Most of the meals they offer contain meat.”
To put constraints upon; to restrain; to confine; to keep within bounds.
“I'm so excited, I can hardly contain myself!”
To have as an element or subset.
“A group contains a unique inverse for each of its elements.”
Etymology
From Middle English conteinen, borrowed from Old French contenir, from Latin continēre (“to hold or keep together, comprise, contain”), combined form of con- (“together”) + teneō (“to hold”).
Similar and opposite words
CONTAIN at a glance
CONTAIN has 7 letters and scores 9 points in Scrabble (C 3 + O 1 + N 1 + T 1 + A 1 + I 1 + N 1) and 12 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #2,921 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with contain
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