Contain Meaning
/kənˈteɪn/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo hold inside.
verbTo include as a part.
Sentence Examples
In the English language many words contain letters which are not pronounced.
This room is too small to contain 50 men.
This drink doesn't contain any alcohol.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The firefighters worked hard to ____ the spreading wildfire.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In the English language many words ____ letters which are not pronounced.
Word Origin & History
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass."
— 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
"[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria,[…]."
— 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
"Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated."
— 2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:
"Fear not, my lord: we can contain ourselves."
— c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act INDUCTION, scene i]:
"[The king's] only Person is oftentimes instead of an Army, to contain the unruly People from a thousand evil Occasions."
— 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The firefighters worked hard to ____ the spreading wildfire.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In the English language many words ____ letters which are not pronounced.