Contain
verb
To have something inside or include something as a part.
The box contains many toys.
verb
To keep something harmful within limits and not allow it to spread.
Firefighters tried to contain the spread of the fire.
verb
To control or hide a strong feeling or emotion.
She could hardly contain her excitement.
verb
In mathematics, if a set contains a number or other element, that number or element is a member of the set.
The set of natural numbers contains the number 3.
Usage tips
Academic
verb
To have something inside or include something as a part.
The box contains many toys.
verb
To keep something harmful within limits and not allow it to spread.
Firefighters tried to contain the spread of the fire.
verb
To control or hide a strong feeling or emotion.
She could hardly contain her excitement.
verb
In mathematics, if a set contains a number or other element, that number or element is a member of the set.
The set of natural numbers contains the number 3.
Usage tips
Academic
Definition 1 of 4
Pro Tip 1/2Physical Contents
Use 'contain' when describing the items held inside something tangible like a container.
Her purse contains her wallet and keys.
Pro Tip 2/2Implicit Inclusion
'Contain' can imply that all parts included are necessary or intended for the whole.
The recipe contains four ingredients.
Pro Tip 1/2Physical Contents
Use 'contain' when describing the items held inside something tangible like a container.
Her purse contains her wallet and keys.
Pro Tip 2/2Implicit Inclusion
'Contain' can imply that all parts included are necessary or intended for the whole.
The recipe contains four ingredients.
Pro Tip 1/2Physical Contents
Use 'contain' when describing the items held inside something tangible like a container.
Her purse contains her wallet and keys.
Pro Tip 2/2Implicit Inclusion
'Contain' can imply that all parts included are necessary or intended for the whole.
The recipe contains four ingredients.
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Video examples
The world’s most...
What secrets do its pages contain? He purchased the manuscript from the cash-strapped priest at the college, and eventually brought it to the U.S., where experts have continued to puzzle over it for more than a century. Cryptologists say the writing has all the characteristics of a real language, just one that no one's ever seen before.
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The major currency of our reward system is dopamine, an important chemical or neurotransmitter. There are many dopamine receptors in the forebrain, but they're not evenly distributed. Certain areas contain dense clusters of receptors, and these dopamine hot spots are a part of our reward system.
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But even that number is minuscule compared to another infinity. Some physicists think the space-time continuum is literally infinite and that it contains an infinite number of so-called pocket universes with varying properties. How's your brain doing? Quantum theory adds a whole new wrinkle.
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may contain oceans of liquid water underneath their crusts. Jupiter's large collection of moons is only made possible by the planet's massive size and gravitational pull, the strongest of all the planets in the solar system. This incredible gravity also influence the sizes
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Some of these are even visible, such as higher density of the grey matter that contains most of your brain's neurons and synapses, and more activity in certain regions when engaging a second language. The heightened workout a bilingual brain receives throughout its life
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Time is memory and you...
this offer is an important element of control a good example of this for me is my morning commute I live in New York City and I take the subway to work every day for better or for worse and my commute contains lots of people the sounds of their music smells emanating
Video examples
Fred Jansen: How to land...
So what's important to remember? Comets contain the original material from which our solar system was formed, so they're ideal to study the components that were present at the time when Earth, and life, started. Comets are also suspected
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How Are Eggs Made? PIPE...
oviduct first it swathes with albumen the egg white that contains the water needed by the growing chick that done and enclosed within the membrane it travels on into the uterus when it will be given its protective
Video examples
Can you solve the virus...
The virus is contained for now, but unless you can destroy it, the vents will soon open and unleash a deadly airborne plague. Without hesitation, you grab your HazMat suit and get ready to save the world.
Video examples
What makes something...
This simple story contains all of the elements that make for a truly Kafkaesque scenario. It's not the absurdity of bureaucracy alone, but the irony of the character's circular reasoning in reaction to it
Video examples
The world’s most...
What secrets do its pages contain? He purchased the manuscript from the cash-strapped priest at the college, and eventually brought it to the U.S., where experts have continued to puzzle over it for more than a century. Cryptologists say the writing has all the characteristics of a real language, just one that no one's ever seen before.
Video examples
How sugar affects the...
The major currency of our reward system is dopamine, an important chemical or neurotransmitter. There are many dopamine receptors in the forebrain, but they're not evenly distributed. Certain areas contain dense clusters of receptors, and these dopamine hot spots are a part of our reward system.
Video examples
Questions No One Knows...
But even that number is minuscule compared to another infinity. Some physicists think the space-time continuum is literally infinite and that it contains an infinite number of so-called pocket universes with varying properties. How's your brain doing? Quantum theory adds a whole new wrinkle.
Video examples
Jupiter 101 PIPE National...
may contain oceans of liquid water underneath their crusts. Jupiter's large collection of moons is only made possible by the planet's massive size and gravitational pull, the strongest of all the planets in the solar system. This incredible gravity also influence the sizes
Video examples
The benefits of a...
Some of these are even visible, such as higher density of the grey matter that contains most of your brain's neurons and synapses, and more activity in certain regions when engaging a second language. The heightened workout a bilingual brain receives throughout its life
Video examples
Time is memory and you...
this offer is an important element of control a good example of this for me is my morning commute I live in New York City and I take the subway to work every day for better or for worse and my commute contains lots of people the sounds of their music smells emanating
Video examples
Fred Jansen: How to land...
So what's important to remember? Comets contain the original material from which our solar system was formed, so they're ideal to study the components that were present at the time when Earth, and life, started. Comets are also suspected
Video examples
How Are Eggs Made? PIPE...
oviduct first it swathes with albumen the egg white that contains the water needed by the growing chick that done and enclosed within the membrane it travels on into the uterus when it will be given its protective
Video examples
Can you solve the virus...
The virus is contained for now, but unless you can destroy it, the vents will soon open and unleash a deadly airborne plague. Without hesitation, you grab your HazMat suit and get ready to save the world.
Video examples
What makes something...
This simple story contains all of the elements that make for a truly Kafkaesque scenario. It's not the absurdity of bureaucracy alone, but the irony of the character's circular reasoning in reaction to it
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Robert De Niro
Actor
I always go back to how people behave. If you watch how people actually behave in a situation, it's very simple and honest and contained. You don't need to use as much expression, as much feeling. Some characters will boil over, and that's another thing, but a lot of times I think you can just do very, very little.
Quote examples
Eric Clapton
British Musician
I sought my father in the world of the black musician, because it contained wisdom, experience, sadness and loneliness. I was not ever interested in the music of boys. From my youngest years, I was interested in the music of men.
Quote examples
Ian Mcewan
British Author
When I began I thought that literature was contained within a bubble that somehow floated above the world commented upon by newspapers. But I became more and more interested in trying to include some of that world within my work.
Quote examples
Stephen Hawking
English Physicist
Most sets of values would give rise to universes that, although they might be very beautiful, would contain no one able to wonder at that beauty.
Quote examples
Gary Hamel
American Businessman
I don't know whether the universe contains any evidence of intelligent design, but I can assure you that thousands of everyday products do not.
Quote examples
George Bernard Shaw
Irish Playwright
Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart's desire; the other is to get it.
Quote examples
D. H. Lawrence
English Writer
All vital truth contains the memory of all that for which it is not true.
Quote examples
Thomas Jefferson
American President
Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
Quote examples
Solomon Ibn Gabirol
Spanish Poet
A wise man's question contains half the answer.
Quote examples
Sophocles
Greek Poet
A short saying often contains much wisdom.
Quote examples
Robert De Niro
Actor
I always go back to how people behave. If you watch how people actually behave in a situation, it's very simple and honest and contained. You don't need to use as much expression, as much feeling. Some characters will boil over, and that's another thing, but a lot of times I think you can just do very, very little.
Quote examples
Eric Clapton
British Musician
I sought my father in the world of the black musician, because it contained wisdom, experience, sadness and loneliness. I was not ever interested in the music of boys. From my youngest years, I was interested in the music of men.
Quote examples
Ian Mcewan
British Author
When I began I thought that literature was contained within a bubble that somehow floated above the world commented upon by newspapers. But I became more and more interested in trying to include some of that world within my work.
Quote examples
Stephen Hawking
English Physicist
Most sets of values would give rise to universes that, although they might be very beautiful, would contain no one able to wonder at that beauty.
Quote examples
Gary Hamel
American Businessman
I don't know whether the universe contains any evidence of intelligent design, but I can assure you that thousands of everyday products do not.
Quote examples
George Bernard Shaw
Irish Playwright
Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart's desire; the other is to get it.
Quote examples
D. H. Lawrence
English Writer
All vital truth contains the memory of all that for which it is not true.
Quote examples
Thomas Jefferson
American President
Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
Quote examples
Solomon Ibn Gabirol
Spanish Poet
A wise man's question contains half the answer.
Quote examples
Sophocles
Greek Poet
A short saying often contains much wisdom.
Example 1 of 10
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