container

«container» in Mova's school dictionary: anything you can keep or carry things in, such as a box… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (container, containers)

meaning for a pupil

1) A container is anything you can keep or carry things in, such as a box, jar, bottle, tin or tub. tree →

2) A container is also a very large metal box for carrying goods on ships, trains and lorries. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths it appears in capacity and volume problems: how much water a container holds, in litres or millilitres. In science, liquids take the shape of their container. In everyday life, we sort waste into containers and keep food in containers in the fridge. Phrases: «plastic container», «lunch container», «shipping container», «recycling container».

examples

• Put the leftover pasta in a container and keep it in the fridge. tree →
• The container holds two litres of water. tree →
• Liquids take the shape of the container they are in. tree →
• We collected rain in a container to measure it. tree →
• A huge ship carried hundreds of containers. tree →
• Keep cleaning products in their own container, never in a drink bottle. tree →
• Find a container with a lid for your crayons. tree →

note

Countable: «a container», «two containers». From «contain» (to hold inside). Safety trap: never put chemicals in food or drink containers, someone might drink them. In a maths problem, «the container holds 500 ml» gives its capacity; «the container is half full» means half of that amount is inside.

In the corpora

• You should never taste, sniff or drink anything from an unknown bottle or container.
• Steam from a hot container can burn, so you open the lid away from your face.
• Take the lid off or leave a gap when heating a jar or container, because pressure can make it burst.
• In bear country, store food in bear-proof containers and keep a clean camp, because bears follow food smells.
• At airport security, liquids go in small containers inside a small clear bag, and you follow the officers' instructions.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «container» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.