Word.ws English Dictionary

contents

Syllables: con·tentsUK/ˈkɒn.tɛnts//ˈkɑn.tɛnts/

contents is the plural of content.

contents is the ellipsis of table of contents.

contents is the third-person singular simple present indicative of content.

Meaning of content

Noun (1)

content (uncountable)

  1. Satisfaction, contentment; pleasure.
    • They were in a state of sleepy content after supper.
  2. (obsolete) Acquiescence without examination.
    • The sense they humbly take upon content.1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC
  3. That which contents or satisfies; that which if attained would make one happy.
    • So will I in England work your grace's full content.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  4. (UK, House of Lords) An expression of assent to a bill or motion; an affirmative vote.
  5. (UK, metonymically, House of Lords) A member who votes in assent.

Noun (2)

content (countable and uncountable, plural contents)

  1. (uncountable) That which is contained.
    Synonyms:
    contents

See all 18 meanings of content

Meaning of table of contents

Noun

table of contents (plural tables of contents)

  1. A list of titles of the parts of a book or document, organized in the order in which the parts appear.
  2. A region of data on a compact disc that describes the contents that follow.
    Synonyms:
    TOC

Noun

contents

  1. (plural-normally) That which is contained.
    • It is not covered in your homeowner's policy. You need contents insurance.
    • The contents of the cup had a familiar aroma.

Words formed from contents

Phrases with contents

Questions about contents

What does contents mean?
Contents means that which is contained.
What is contents the plural of?
Contents is the plural of content.
What part of speech is contents?
Contents is a noun.
How do you pronounce contents?
Contents is pronounced /ˈkɑn.tɛnts/ (US).

Words near contents in the dictionary

  1. contentlessness
  2. contently
  3. contentment
  4. contentments
  5. contentness
  6. contents
  7. contents insurance
  8. contentsome
  9. contentual
  10. contentually
  11. contentwise

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: contents (page history and authors); content (page history and authors); table of contents (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:

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

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