REMAIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does remain mean? 

• REMAIN (verb)
  The verb REMAIN has 4 senses:

1. stay the same; remain in a certain state

2. continue in a place, position, or situation

3. be left; of persons, questions, problems, results, evidence, etc.

4. stay behind

  Familiarity information: REMAIN used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REMAIN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they remain    ... he / she / it remains   
Past simple: remained   
Past participle: remained   
-ing form: remaining   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Stay the same; remain in a certain state

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

remain; rest; stay

Context example:

The bad weather continued for another week

Hypernyms (to "remain" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "remain"):

keep out (remain outside)

sit tight (maintain the same position; wait it out)

stay together; stick together (be loyal to one another, especially in times of trouble)

stand (remain inactive or immobile)

keep; stay fresh (fail to spoil or rot)

be (to remain unmolested, undisturbed, or uninterrupted -- used only in infinitive form)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Something ----s Adjective/Noun
Somebody ----s Adjective

Sentence example:

John will remain angry

Sense 2

Meaning:

Continue in a place, position, or situation

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

continue; remain; stay; stay on

Context example:

She continued as deputy mayor for another year

Hypernyms (to "remain" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "remain"):

abide; bide; stay (dwell)

hold over (continue a term of office past the normal period of time)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be left; of persons, questions, problems, results, evidence, etc.

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

Carter remains the only President in recent history under whose Presidency the U.S. did not fight a war

Hypernyms (to "remain" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

remainder (a piece of cloth that is left over after the rest has been used or sold)

remainder (something left after other parts have been taken away)

remnant (a small part or portion that remains after the main part no longer exists)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Stay behind

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

persist; remain; stay

Context example:

The hostility remained long after they made up

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "remain"):

stick (endure)

linger (remain present although waning or gradually dying)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

 Context examples 

Remain where you are till I return; be as still as a mouse.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Even more remarkably, Mars will remain in your truelove sector, the fifth house, and send beams to your marriage and commitment house.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

He did not remain long, but said he would look in later in the day and see Lord Godalming.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Between ourselves, I think it a great pity Henrietta did not remain at Lyme as long as Louisa; it would have kept her a little out of his way.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

However, I remained silent and sullen; I was ready to faint at the very smell of him and his men.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

She remained silent; her disappointment was apparent.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Of the stores which remained below he was ordered to retain as much as would keep him for two months.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Why had Holmes remained at Woking?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“It remains as it was, I suppose?” said she, in a tone of feeling.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The king’s son remained there a short while longer, and he thought of his mother, and wondered if she were still alive.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)