Adjective (or adverb) form of contain or container.
I am looking for a word that can be used to describe being ‘Capable of containing, storing, and/or holding other things’. I started looking up some suggestions for words such as “fillable”, “insertable”, etc., but these may or may not be real “real” words, and fail to fully capture the meaning I am trying to get at. If a thing can be “containable” what is the word that describes the thing in which it would be contained?
If there’s a word for this, what is it?
I
was hoping or had connotations of something that was intended or intended to hold or contain other things, I was hoping for something that directly implied or had connotations of something that was intended to hold or contain other things.
Exact context was originally trying to find the correct word to use in naming a Java interface as our naming specifications say it needs to be an adjective but after not having any luck (and getting the okay to just name it Container) I was kinda annoyed that I couldn’t find a descriptor to fit the meaning of “an object capable of or intended for containing other objects”. I found several words for “a room or container that can hold a large/small amount of things/people” but none that just implied the capability of that room/container of actually containing any things at all.
I was thinking something along the lines of “Character checked in the noun for their emergency cash” or “noun is equally , making it a perfect place for hiding valuables” where noun could be anything (though probably not something normally thought of as a container as then the adjective would be unneeded).
Examples for & noun: “container-like &
- air-conditioner” “hollow &
- roll of netting” “empty and
- outlet” though not
necessarily specific to valuables, those were just the first things that popped into my head. And though hollow and empty are good descriptors for something known to be a container, something like “an empty outlet” implies that an outlet has nothing plugged into it, rather than the specific outlet is (also) a container. Why does “container-like” imply that a verb is “container-like”?
What is the closest I’ve come to “invaginate”? Trouble is this word describes the object as a container or pocket but more from the perspective of how it was formed into that rather than its actual nature of being suited or meant for containing things.
I’ll keep thinking about it. Should there be a word for physics?
Part of the difficulty is that a general word meaning “capable of being used as a container” would be tautological in most, if not all, cases. Nouns for things which can contain something such as ‘canister’, ‘envelope’, ‘box’, ‘drawer’, ‘vase’ and so on carry the connotation that they can contain something.
As an example, a ‘fillable’ canister is different from an unfillable one only in that it is not already full, sealed or damaged beyond use.
- If it is full its potential to be used as a container is being utilised to its maximum extent.
- If it is under-used but sealed its potential is being used but someone has decided that the object it contains must be protected in some way.
- (if there is any empty plastic container that does not have a seal)?
- If it’s empty and damaged beyond use it is an exception to the general class of canisters and so is described as “an unusable canister”, flattened canister, or some other description that indicates it cannot carry out the function implied by its designation as “a canister”.
Unless someone can come up with a noun which identifies something which is not inherently capable of being used as a container but, under certain circumstances can be used as a container there seems to be no need for a general word meaning “capable of being used as a container” so it probably does not exist.
In math, logic and computer science you may use variable.
Variable : a quantity that has any one from a set of values. (Meanwhile
no more than that)
Not an easy question for
an arbitrary thing if it’s ‘capable of containing, storing, and holding other things’ or not?
The AP seems very good, although maybe not perfect.
M-W:
capacious : able to hold or contain a lot : large in capacity
Your examples:
“Character checked in the capacious safe for the emergency cash. “The
safe
is capacious, making it a perfect place for hiding valuables. “Did
a container have a suitable diameter and how many objects the size can hold? Also one could “control” the degree of capaciousness (i.e., having a sense of calm or just feeling). , capacity) with adjectives. One might characterize a container as moderately capacious, or slightly capacious, if these are not contradictions in terms.
I stand by my suggestion of fillable, but you could also consider “suppliable” as an alternative. I know that some of your problems can be responded to. However, what does that mean? Can you use dry bags for water? What is the difference between a water pipe and a sieve? When doing occupations at home, “Occupiable”
may become an option.
