Definition of REMAIN

remain

Plural: remains

Verb

Verb Forms: remained, remaining, remains

  • To continue in a specific place, state, or condition.
  • stay the same; remain in a certain state
    • "The dress remained wet after repeated attempts to dry it"
    • "He remained unmoved by her tears"
  • continue in a place, position, or situation
    • "despite student protests, he remained Dean for another year"
  • be left; of persons, questions, problems, results, evidence, etc.
    • "There remains the question of who pulled the trigger"
    • "Carter remains the only President in recent history under whose Presidency the U.S. did not fight a war"
  • stay behind
    • "The hostility remained long after they made up"
  • To stay after others or other parts have been removed or otherwise disappeared.
  • To be left after a number or quantity has been subtracted or cut off; to be left as not included or comprised.
  • To continue unchanged in place, form, or condition, or undiminished in quantity; to abide; to stay; to endure; to last.
  • To await; to be left to.
  • To continue in a state of being.

Noun

  • That which is left; relic; remainder.
  • That which is left of a human being after the life is gone; relics; a dead body.
  • Posthumous works or productions, especially literary works.
  • State of remaining; stay.

Examples

  • After three rounds of interviews, only 5 candidates remained.
  • I like to make more than enough food if I have people round for dinner, so I can eat my way through what remains in the following days.
  • If you divide 20 apples between three people, each gets six and two remain.
  • Only a few letters REMAIN in the bag, making the endgame tense.
  • Promise me you will always remain my good little girl.
  • The light remained red for two full minutes.
  • There was no food in the house, so I had to remain hungry.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English remainen, from Old French remain-, stressed stem of remanoir, from Latin remaneō, maneō, from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to stay”).
Displaced native Middle English beliven, bliven (“to remain”) (from Old English belīfan (“to remain, stay”)) due to confluence with related Middle English beleven (“to leave behind”), with which it merged. More at beleave and belive.

Antonyms

change, be removed, be taken, leave

Scrabble Score: 8

remain: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
remain: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
remain: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

remain: valid Words With Friends Word