What does "bin" mean?
A box, frame, crib, or enclosed place, used as a storage container.
Bin
/bɪn/ contraction, name, noun, verb, slang
contraction, name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A box, frame, crib, or enclosed place, used as a storage container.
- Grammar: bin is listed as contraction, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: aba transit number, archives, armory, arsenal.
- Useful contrasts: disaggregate, keep, preserve.
- Usage evidence: The guard's truncheon hit air. Off balance, he regained his posture to see a metal-mesh rubbish bin flying towards him.
How to use "bin"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "bin" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "bin" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "bin" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "bin" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "bin" is acting as contraction, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "aba transit number" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "bin", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A box, frame, crib, or enclosed place, used as a storage container.
"a corn bin"
- 2 son of; equivalent to Hebrew בן (ben).
- 3 Clipping of binary. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, countable, uncountable
- 4 a container; usually has a lid wordnet
- 5 A container for rubbish or waste.
"a rubbish bin"
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 an identification number consisting of a two-part code assigned to banks and savings associations; the first part shows the location and the second identifies the bank itself wordnet
- 7 Any of the discrete intervals in a histogram, etc
- 8 the quantity contained in a bin wordnet
- 9 Any of the fixed-size chunks into which airspace is divided for the purposes of radar.
- 10 Jail or prison. Multicultural-London-English, slang, uncommon
"Free up my G's locked in the bin Jail house comin' like subs one comes out then one goes in"
- 11 Ellipsis of loony bin (“lunatic asylum”). abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, slang
"At the moment, and in "an emergency", you or I could be sent to the bin, willy-nilly, on the say-so of a single doctor (who may never have seen us before, and need have no particular experience of mental illness), so long as the application is supported by one of our relatives, or by a "social worker"."
- 12 A digital file folder for organising media in a non-linear editing program.
Verb
- 1 To dispose of (something) by putting it into a bin, or as if putting it into a bin. British, informal
"He put the bank statement in the shoebox marked "Bank Statements" and binned the rest."
- 2 Alternative form of been. Internet, alt-of, alternative, dialectal, obsolete
"Many of the lupus piscis I have seen, and have bin informed by the king's fishmonger they are taken on our coast […]"
- 3 store in bins wordnet
- 4 To throw away, reject, give up. British, informal
"This splendid eloquence was promptly binned by the pope, […]"
- 5 To convert continuous data into discrete groups.
Show 1 more definition
- 6 To place into a bin for storage. transitive
"to bin wine"
Contraction
- 1 Contraction of being. Internet, abbreviation, alt-of, contraction
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname from Chinese.
Antonyms
Example
"The guard's truncheon hit air. Off balance, he regained his posture to see a metal-mesh rubbish bin flying towards him."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "bin"?
Common synonyms include: aba transit number, archives, armory, arsenal, attic, banding.
How do you use "bin" in a sentence?
The guard's truncheon hit air. Off balance, he regained his posture to see a metal-mesh rubbish bin flying towards him.
How do you pronounce "bin"?
Pronounced /bɪn/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English bynne, from Old English binn (“crib, manger”), from Late Latin benna or a Celtic language, possibly Proto-Brythonic *benn (“cart, carriage”) (whence Middle Welsh benn, Old Breton benn (“caisson”), modern Welsh ben), from Proto-Celtic *bend(n)ā (whence Gaulish benna). Compare German Benne (“wheelbarrow”) and Middle Dutch benne (“basket”), whence modern Dutch ben and as a borrowing, West Frisian bin (both "wicker basket").
Etymology 2
From Arabic بِن (bin, “son”).
Etymology 3
Contraction of being.
Etymology 4
Pronunciation spelling of been.
Etymology 5
Clipping of binary.
Etymology 6
Borrowed from Chinese 賓 /宾 (Bīn).