different between harbour vs contain

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?h??b?/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /?h??b??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)b?(?)

Noun

harbour (plural harbours)

1. Commonwealth of Nations standard spelling of harbor.

Derived terms

• Rosslare Harbour

Translations

Verb

harbour (third-person singular simple present harbours, present participle harbouring, simple past and past participle harboured)

1. Commonwealth of Nations standard spelling of harbor.

   The docks, which once harboured tall ships, now harbour only petty thieves.

   • The bare suspicion made it treason to harbour the person suspected.

   • 1707, Nicholas Rowe, The Royal Convert

     Nor let your gentle Breast harbor one Thought Of Outrage from the Kin.

References

• “harbour”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

English

Etymology

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French contenir, from Latin continere (“to hold or keep together, comprise, contain”), combined form of con- (“together”) + tene? (“to hold”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: k?n-t?n?, IPA^(key): /k?n?te?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n
• Hyphenation: con?tain

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To hold inside.
2. (transitive) To include as a part.
3. (transitive) To put constraint upon; to restrain; to confine; to keep within bounds.

   • [The king's] only Person is oftentimes instead of an Army, to contain the unruly People from a thousand evil Occasions.
4. (mathematics, of a set etc., transitive) To have as an element or subset.

5. (obsolete, intransitive) To restrain desire; to live in continence or chastity.

   • But if they cannot contain, let them marry.

Synonyms

• (hold inside): enclose, inhold
• (include as part): comprise, embody, incorporate, inhold
• (limit by restraint): control, curb, repress, restrain, restrict, stifle; See also Thesaurus:curb

Antonyms

• (include as part): exclude, omit
• (limit by restraint): release, vent

Usage notes

• This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs

Related terms

• container
• containable
• containment
• content
• continence

Translations

Further reading

• contain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• contain in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• contain at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• actinon, cantion