Contained

How to spell contained

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce contained

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does contained mean?

1. verbHeld, included, or kept something within a space, limit, or set of bounds (past tense of contain).
2. adjectiveKept under firm control; calm and restrained in emotion or behaviour.

Contained in a sentence

• verb

  The audit revealed that the report contained several costly errors.

• adjective

  She stayed remarkably calm and contained throughout the difficult meeting.

• verb

  The parcel contained a fragile vase wrapped in thick padding.

• adjective

  His contained manner masked the anger he felt about the decision.

Where does contained come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb continere, which combined con-, meaning 'together', with tenere, meaning 'to hold'; the literal sense was therefore 'to hold together' or 'to keep within bounds'. Latin passed it to Old French as contenir, and English adopted the verb 'contain' during the 1300s, at first meaning to hold or include something within a space. The past form 'contained' simply adds the regular -ed ending, and it later took on the adjectival sense of a person who keeps their feelings firmly held in. The tenere root is remarkably productive in English, surfacing in relatives such as 'retain', 'detain', 'sustain' and 'tenant', all of which share the idea of holding. Knowing that the middle of the word comes from tenere, 'to hold', is a useful reminder that it is spelled with -tain- rather than the tempting -tane- or -tian-.

How the word is built

• con- (together)
• tain (hold, from Latin tenere)
• -ed (past tense / past participle suffix)