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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

remain.

That which is left; relic; remainder.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɹɪˈmeɪn/
  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
Where this word comes from

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.

verb/ɹɪˈmeɪn/
  1. To stay after others or other parts have been removed or otherwise disappeared.

    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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
    She remained a force in local politics until her death.
  4. To await; to be left to.

  5. To continue in a state of being.

    copulative
    There was no food in the house, so I had to remain hungry.
    The light remained red for two full minutes.
Where this word comes from

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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.