List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 84

SYNONYMS: contain, hold, accommodate.
These verbs mean to have within or have the capacity for having within.

Contain means to have within or have as a part or constituent: This drawer contains all the cutlery we own. The book contains some amusing passages. Polluted water contains contaminants.
Hold can be used in that sense but primarily stresses capacity for containing: The pitcher holds two pints but contains only one.
Accommodate refers to capacity for holding comfortably: The restaurant accommodates 50 customers. Four hundred inmates were crowded into a prison intended to accommodate 200.

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