Remain
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 That which is left; relic; remainder. in-plural
- 2 That which is left of a human being after the life is gone; relics; a dead body. in-plural
- 3 Posthumous works or productions, especially literary works.
- 4 State of remaining; stay. obsolete
- 1 To stay after others or other parts have been removed or otherwise disappeared.
"After three rounds of interviews, only 5 candidates remained."
- 2 stay the same; remain in a certain state wordnet
- 3 To be left after a number or quantity has been subtracted or cut off; to be left as not included or comprised.
"If you divide 20 apples between three people, each gets six and two remain."
- 4 be in a certain place and not leave wordnet
- 5 To continue unchanged in place, form, or condition, or undiminished in quantity; to abide; to stay; to endure; to last.
"Promise me you will always remain my good little girl."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 be left; of persons, questions, problems, results, evidence, etc. wordnet
- 7 To await; to be left to.
- 8 continue in a place, position, or situation wordnet
- 9 To continue in a state of being. copulative
"There was no food in the house, so I had to remain hungry."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"How many days will you remain in London?"
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.
Related phrases
More for "remain"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.