containment

noun

con·​tain·​ment kən-ˈtān-mənt 

1

: the act, process, or means of keeping something within limits

the containment of health costs

2

: the policy, process, or result of preventing the expansion of a hostile power or ideology

Examples of containment in a Sentence

The company's hazardous waste containment plan is being reviewed.

The government needs to adopt a containment strategy.

Recent Examples on the Web

As of late Sunday, the Dome Fire was at 3,042 acres and 15% containment at the southern end of the park near Wawona. — Sean MacAday, Sacbee.com, 21 Sep. 2026

Large volumes of hazardous material remain stored inside an aging containment repository that has functioned on-site since 1978. — Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 18 Sep. 2026

Firefighters held the blaze to 640 acres while working to strengthen containment lines in steep, rugged terrain. — Cecilio Padilla, CBS News, 18 Sep. 2026

Hacktron conducted the entire operation within 72 hours in late July, soon after some of OpenAI’s agents broke containment and hacked the AI platform Hugging Face. — Kevin Collier, NBC news, 18 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

contain + -ment

First Known Use

1655, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for containment

• arraignment
• attainment
• entrainment
• sustainment
• ascertainment
• entertainment