Containment

How to spell containment

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce containment

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does containment mean?

1. nounThe action of keeping something harmful, dangerous, or unwanted within set limits so it cannot spread or escape.

Containment in a sentence

• The emergency plan focused on the containment of the chemical spill.

• Early containment of the outbreak prevented it from reaching nearby towns.

Where does containment come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb continere, formed from con- meaning 'together' and tenere meaning 'to hold', so the literal sense was 'to hold together' or 'to keep within bounds'. The verb passed into English as 'contain' through Old French 'contenir' during the 1300s, carrying the idea of holding something inside a fixed space. The abstract noun 'containment' was built later on English soil by adding the noun-forming suffix -ment, denoting the act or state of containing. For much of its life it simply meant the act of keeping a thing enclosed, but in the late 1940s it took on a famous political meaning, describing the Cold War strategy of stopping the spread of a rival power. The same tenere root quietly survives in many relatives such as 'retain', 'detain', and 'tenant', and remembering that 'tain' holds the idea of holding can help keep the spelling steady.

How the word is built

• con- (together)
• tain (from Latin tenere: to hold)
• -ment (noun suffix)