content

From Middle English content (plural contentes, contence), borrowed from Latin contentum (plural contenta), from contentus (“satisfied, content”), past participle of continere (“to hold in, contain”); see contain.

• (noun)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒn.tɛnt/
  • (US) enPR: kŏn'tĕnt, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑn.tɛnt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (adjective, verb)
  • enPR: kəntĕnt', IPA^(key): /kənˈtɛnt/
• Hyphenation: con‧tent

content (countable and uncountable, plural contents)

1. (uncountable) That which is contained.
   • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27:

     The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or […] and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.

2. Subject matter; that which is contained in writing or speech.
   • 1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge Chapter 21

     Hugh admitting that he never had, and moreover that he couldn’t read, Mrs Varden declared with much severity, that he ought to he even more ashamed of himself than before, and strongly recommended him to save up his pocket-money for the purchase of one, and further to teach himself the contents with all convenient diligence.

3. The amount of material contained; contents.
4. Capacity for holding.
   • 1627, Francis Bacon, New Atlantis

     Strong ships, of great content.

5. (mathematics) The n-dimensional space contained by an n-dimensional polytope (called volume in the case of a polyhedron and area in the case of a polygon).
6. (algebra, ring theory) (of a polynomial with coefficients in a GCD domain) The greatest common divisor of the coefficients; (of a polynomial with coefficients in an integral domain) the common factor of the coefficients which, when removed, leaves the adjusted coefficients with no common factor that is noninvertible.
7. Satisfaction; contentment.

   They were in a state of sleepy content after supper.

   • 2008, Mingmei Yip, Peach Blossom Pavilion

     Like an empress, I feel great content surrounded by the familiar sounds of laughter, bickering, rattling plates, clicking chopsticks, smacking lips, and noisy sipping of the longevity brew.

   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2: Act 1, Scene 1

     Such is the fullness of my heart's content.

   • 1946, C.L. Moore, Vintage Season

     Kleph moved slowly from the door and sank upon the chaise longue with a little sigh of content.

8. (obsolete) Acquiescence without examination.
   • 1711, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism

     The sense they humbly take upon content.

9. That which contents or satisfies; that which if attained would make one happy.
   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2: Act 1, Scene 1

     So will I in England work your grace's full content.

10. (Britain, House of Lords) An expression of assent to a bill or motion; an affirmate vote.
11. (Britain, House of Lords) A member who votes in assent.

content (comparative more content or contenter, superlative most content)

1. Satisfied.
   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314, page 0108:

     This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking. […] He was smooth-faced, and his fresh skin and well-developed figure bespoke the man in good physical condition through active exercise, yet well content with the world's apportionment.

• (satisfied): contented, pleased, satisfied

• contentment
• discontent

content

1. (archaic) Alright, agreed.

content (third-person singular simple present contents, present participle contenting, simple past and past participle contented)

1. (transitive) To give contentment or satisfaction; to satisfy; to make happy.

   You can't have any more - you'll have to content yourself with what you already have.

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Mark 15:15,

     And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.

   • 1741, Isaac Watts, The Improvement of the Mind, London: James Brackstone, Part I, Chapter 14, p. 194,

     Do not content yourselves with meer Words and Names, lest your laboured Improvements only amass a heap of unintelligible Phrases, and you feed upon Husks instead of Kernels.

   • 2016, Felicity Cloake, “How to make the perfect cacio e pepe,” The Guardian, 3 November, 2016,

     Caz Hildebrand and Jacob Kenedy recommend rigatoni in the Geometry of Pasta, and Christopher Boswell, the chef behind the Rome Sustainable Food project, prefers wholemeal paccheri or rigatoni in his book Pasta, on the basis that “the flavour of the whole grain is strong enough to stand up to the sharp and salty sheep’s milk cheese” (as I can find neither easily, I have to content myself with brown penne instead).

2. (transitive, obsolete) To satisfy the expectations of; to pay; to requite.
   • c. 1599 William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act III, Scene 2,

     Come the next Sabbath, and I will content you.

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

• Connett

content (feminine contenta, masculine plural contents, feminine plural contentes)

1. content, satisfied, pleased

• “content” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

From Middle French content, from Old French, borrowed from Latin contentus.

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.tɑ̃/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophones: comptant, contant, contents

content (feminine singular contente, masculine plural contents, feminine plural contentes)

1. content, satisfied, pleased

• contenter
• contentement
• mécontent

See the etymology of the main entry.

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃t/

content

1. third-person plural present indicative of conter
2. third-person plural present subjunctive of conter

• “content” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

From Old French content, borrowed from Latin contentus.

content m (feminine singular contente, masculine plural contens, feminine plural contentes)

1. happy; satisfied; content

• French: content

• caontent (Guernsey)

From Old French, borrowed from Latin contentus (“having been held together, contained”), from contineō, continēre (“hold or keep together, surround, contain”).

content m

1. (Jersey) happy