containment

Language: en

🇺🇸 /kəˈnteɪnmənt/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    The act or process of containing or keeping something within limits or boundaries.; A foreign policy strategy aimed at preventing the expansion of a hostile power or ideology, especially associated with Cold War-era U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union.; The state of being contained or confined.; A structure or system designed to prevent the escape of hazardous materials.

🔗 Details

Word forms

uncountable

Collocations

containment policycontainment strategycontainment measurescontainment areacontainment of the spreadcontainment zone

Derivatives

containcontainercontainablerecontainment

Synonyms

restrictioncontrolsuppressionconfinementcurbingrestraint

Antonyms

releaseliberationexpansion

Commonly confused

container
EN: 'Container' is a physical object that holds things; 'containment' is the abstract act or policy of containing something.
content
EN: 'Content' refers to what is inside something or a state of satisfaction; 'containment' refers to the act of keeping something within limits.

Spelling tips

EN: Remember that 'containment' is derived from 'contain' + '-ment'; do not add an extra 'e' before the suffix (not 'containement').

💬 Examples

  1. The containment of the oil spill took several weeks.

  2. George Kennan is widely regarded as the architect of the containment doctrine.

  3. The containment of the virus within the quarantine zone was successful.

  4. The nuclear plant has multiple layers of containment to prevent radiation leaks.