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Contain vs Consist - What's the difference?

contain | consist |

In obsolete intransitive terms the difference between contain and consist

is that contain is to restrain desire; to live in continence or chastity while consist is to exist, to be.

As verbs the difference between contain and consist

is that contain is to hold inside while consist is to exist, to be.

As a noun consist is

a lineup or sequence of railroad carriages or cars, with or without a locomotive, that form a unit.

contain

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (lb) To hold inside.
  • *
  • At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria,
  • (lb) To include as a part.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2014-04-21, volume=411, issue=8884, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Subtle effects , passage=Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.}}
  • (lb) To put constraint upon; to restrain; to confine; to keep within bounds.
  • * (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • The king's person contains the unruly people from evil occasions.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Fear not, my lord: we can contain ourselves.
  • *
  • Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. No omnibus, cab, or conveyance ever built could contain a young man in such a rage. His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn.
  • To have as an element.
  • To restrain desire; to live in continence or chastity.
  • * Bible, vii. 9.
  • But if they can not 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

    Antonyms

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

    consist

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) consister, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To exist, to be.
  • *, II.15:
  • *:Why doe they cover with so many lets, one over another, those parts where chiefly consisteth our pleasure and theirs?
  • To be comprised or contained (in).
  • To be composed, formed, or made up (of).
  • * {{quote-book, year=1913, author=
  • , chapter=6, title= Lord Stranleigh Abroad , passage=The men resided in a huge bunk house, which consisted of one room only, with a shack outside where the cooking was done. In the large room were a dozen bunks?; half of them in a very dishevelled state,
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Timothy Garton Ash)
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli , passage=Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.}}
    Synonyms
    * (be composed of) comprise
    Derived terms
    * consist in

    Etymology 2

    From (consist) (verb).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (rail transport) A lineup or sequence of railroad carriages or cars, with or without a locomotive, that form a unit.
  • The train's consist included a baggage car, four passenger cars, and a diner.
    Synonyms
    * (rail transport) rake

    Anagrams

    * tocsins English heteronyms