container
- 01 B1 Intermediate
an object like a box, bottle, or jar that you use to hold or store things.
a generic receptacle used for the storage or transport of physical goods.
Simple“She put the leftover pasta in a plastic container and placed it in the fridge.”
In context“The laboratory requires every chemical container to be clearly labelled with its contents and the date it was opened.”
Synonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
a very large metal box used for carrying goods on ships, trains, or trucks.
a standardised, large-scale metal box designed for the efficient transport of freight via intermodal shipping.
Simple“The crane lifted the heavy container from the ship onto the waiting truck.”
In context“Global trade relies heavily on the standardisation of containers, which allows seamless transfer between ocean liners and rail networks.”
Synonymsshipping cratecargo unit - 03 C1 Advanced
a package of software that contains everything an application needs to run.
a lightweight, standalone package of software that includes everything needed to run an application, ensuring consistency across different computing environments.
Simple“The developer used a container to make sure the app worked the same way on every computer.”
In context“By deploying the microservices within a container, the engineering team eliminated the 'it works on my machine' problem during the production rollout.”
UsageOften used in the context of cloud computing and DevOps.
Synonymsdocker imagevirtual unit
From Middle English conteyner, equivalent to contain + -er.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.