contains

8 definitions • 18 examples

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.

contained in The allegations contained in this report are very serious.

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.

to control or hide a strong emotion, such as excitement or anger:

She could no longer contain her anger and started yelling at him.

humorous Contain yourself! It's not that exciting.

in sport, to prevent an opponent from playing well and scoring a lot of points:

The Croatian contained his opponent with powerful serves and deep ground-strokes.

Villa managed to contain Chelsea's powerful forwards.

in American football, to keep a player on the offence from running to the edges of the field when the player has the ball:

They have a chance to win if they are able to contain the other team's quarterback and force him to throw passes.

The defence was able to contain the running backs and hold them to short yardage for most of the game.

(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.

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.

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.