contains

/kənˈteɪnz/

contains is the third-person singular simple present indicative of contain.

Meaning of contain

contain (third-person singular simple present contains, present participle containing, simple past and past participle contained)

(transitive) To hold inside.
- The brown box contains three stacks of books.
Synonyms:

enclose, inhold
(transitive) To include as a part.
- Most of the meals they offer contain meat.
Synonyms:

comprise, embody, incorporate, inhold
(transitive) To put constraints upon; to restrain; to confine; to keep within bounds.
- I'm so excited, I can hardly contain myself!
Synonyms:

control
(transitive) To have as an element or subset.
- A group contains a unique inverse for each of its elements.
(intransitive, obsolete) To restrain desire; to live in continence or chastity.
- But if they cannot contain, let them marry.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Bible Corinthians/#8 1 Corinthians:8–9

What is contains the third-person singular simple present indicative of?: Contains is the third-person singular simple present indicative of contain.
How do you pronounce contains?: Contains is pronounced /kənˈteɪnz/.

Adapted from Wiktionary: contains (page history and authors); contain (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-contains.ogg.

Cite this entry: “contains.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/contains. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.