contain
verb
con·tain
| \ kən-ˈtān
\
\
contained;
containing;
contains
Definition of contain
1
: to keep within limits: such as
c
: to follow successfully a policy of containment toward
efforts to contain Communism
d
: to prevent (an enemy or opponent) from advancing or from making a successful attack
2a
: to have within : hold
The box contains old letters.
: to restrain oneself
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Other Words from contain
containable
\ kən-ˈtā-nə-bəl
\
adjective
\
adjective
Examples of contain in a Sentence
The room was barely big enough to contain everyone who came to the meeting.
The book contains over 200 recipes.
The article contains information on how to plan your retirement.
foods that contain a high level of fat
The movie contains something for both children and adults.
State health officials have succeeded in containing the virus.
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Recent Examples on the Web
Assad’s purse was also missing, and it is believed to have contained an estimated $1,200 at the time of the crime. — Chris Harris, PEOPLE.com, "Sister of NBA Star Kawhi Leonard Accused of Murdering 84-Year-Old Woman at Casino," 9 Sep. 2019 The Swedes Fire had burned 400 acres and was 20 percent contained as of Sunday morning, according to CalFire. — Bay Area News Group, The Mercury News, "Swedes Fire map: Evacuations ordered in Butte County near Oroville," 8 Sep. 2019 Firefighters have yet to secure any containment of the Walker Fire in Plumas County, while the Red Bank Fire in Tehama County was 9 percent contained early Saturday. — Steve Rubenstein, SFChronicle.com, "Two wildfires keep growing in Northern California, causing evacuations," 7 Sep. 2019 Taisumov will need to contain Ferreira’s jiu jitsu. — Justin Barrasso, SI.com, "UFC 242 Live Blog: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Dustin Poirier Meet in Main Event," 7 Sep. 2019 Trevor Noah didn’t even try to contain his laughter Wednesday night. — al, "Late night hosts ridicule Trump’s Alabama Sharpie Dorian map," 5 Sep. 2019 Louisville struggled to contain Book on Monday, but give credit to Brian Kelly and that staff because some of those scrambles were designed RPOs for Book. — Cameron Teague Robinson, The Courier-Journal, "Louisville football mailbag: Your questions on Jawon Pass, the Cardinals' roster and more, answered," 4 Sep. 2019 The results showed 80 percent of the streams had detectable amounts of one or more of the chemicals and 50 percent contained sever or more of the chemicals. — David Taylor, Houston Chronicle, "Dayton encouraging safe disposal of old, unused meds," 3 Sep. 2019 Peter explained the problem: one of the guys was carrying a new identity card, rumored to contain a chip that can be used to identify and track people down. — Megan K. Stack, The New Yorker, "Bravery and Nihilism Amid the Protests in Hong Kong," 31 Aug. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'contain.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for contain
contain
verb
English Language Learners Definition of contain
: to have (something) inside
: to have or include (something)
: to keep (something) from spreading : to keep (something) within limits
See the full definition for contain in the English Language Learners Dictionary
contain
verb
con·tain
| \ kən-ˈtān
\
\
contained;
containing
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