containment

contain +‎ -ment

• IPA^(key): /kənˈteɪnmənt/

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containment (countable and uncountable, plural containments)

1. (uncountable) The state of being contained.
2. (uncountable, countable) The state of containing.
3. (obsolete, uncountable, countable) Something contained.
   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC:

     The containment of a rich man's estate.

4. (uncountable, countable) A policy of checking the expansion of a hostile foreign power by creating alliances with other states; especially the foreign policy strategy of the United States in the early years of the Cold War.

   Coordinate terms: rollback, regime change, détente

   • 2022 February 18, David E. Sanger, “The United States’ Message to Russia: Prove Us Wrong”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Mr. Putin has reinvigorated an alliance that spent years confused about its purpose once it lost the adversary it was formed to contain, the Soviet Union. Now, containment is back.

5. (countable) A physical system designed to prevent the accidental release of radioactive or other dangerous materials from a nuclear reactor or industrial plant.
6. (countable, mathematics) An inclusion.

• containment on Wikipedia.Wikipedia