What does contain mean in English?

You can learn contain Pronunciation, Grammar & Synonyms in this most authoritative English Dictionary.

contain Meaning, Definition, Pronunciation, Grammar & Synonyms❤️

0 to have something inside or include something as a part:
- How much liquid do you think this bottle contains?
- I lost a file containing a lot of important documents.
- Try to avoid foods which contain a lot of fat.
- The allegations contained in this report are very serious.
1 to keep something harmful within limits and not allow it to spread:
- Farms in the area have been closed off in an attempt to contain the disease.
- More police were sent to help contain the violence.
- She could no longer contain her anger and started yelling at him.
- humorous Contain yourself! It's not that exciting.
2 (of an object or area) to have an amount of something inside or within it:
- How much liquid does this bottle contain?
- Each large crate contains 12 boxes.
3 to have as a part, or be equal to; include:
- The information contained on forms would be kept strictly confidential.
- Each food serving contains 95 calories.
- You could retrieve all files that contained certain key words.
4 to keep within limits; not to allow to spread:
- Medical teams were scrambling to contain the illness that has already killed thousands in Latin America.

Raw vegetables contain more potassium than cooked ones.
These biscuits contain oats.
The cupboard contained all kinds of strange things.
The following programme contains scenes that may be disturbing to some viewers.
The letter contains a number of typing errors.
The pens were contained in a secure room with adequate light and ventilation with heating available as required.
The syncytium cytoplasm contained mitochondria and vesicles, similar to those in collecting tubes (fig. 23).
Macrophages containing haemosiderin pigment were found particularly in the meninges.