Containment is the action or policy of keeping another country's power or area of control withinacceptable limits or boundaries.
2. uncountable noun
The containmentof something dangerous or unpleasant is the act or process of keeping it under control within a particular area or place.
Fire crews are hoping they can achieve full containment of the fire before the windspick up. [+ of]
...containment of the disease.
...a national health board to oversee cost containment and health-care reform.
containment in British English
(kənˈteɪnmənt)
noun
1.
the act or condition of containing, esp of restraining the ideological or political power of a hostile country or the operations of a hostile military force
2.
(from 1947 to the mid-1970s) a principle of US foreign policy that sought to prevent the expansion of Communist power
3. Also called: confinement physics
the process of preventing the plasma in a controlled thermonuclear reactor from reaching the walls of the reaction vessel, usually by confining it within a configuration of magnetic fields
magnetic bottle
containment in American English
(kənˈteɪnmənt)
noun
a containing or being contained
; esp.,
a.
the policy of attempting to prevent the influence of an opposing nation or political system from spreading
b.
the U.S. post-WWII policy of checking the political and territorial expansion of the U.S.S.R.
c.
the systems used to confine highly radioactive experiments, fusion experiments, etc., esp. the steel and concrete shell used in a nuclear power plant
: in full containment structure
Examples of 'containment' in a sentence
containment
Officials said that the containment cap may have to be reopened while crews withdraw.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
There is a containment policy that means they cannot move.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
The policy of containment is not working.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Has the containment vessel been breached?
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
The focus was on containment, control and counterattack.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
From then on, the game became an exercise in containment and control.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
So long as the containment vessels around the core remain intact, there will be minimal risk.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
The current attempt required a giant pair of robotic shears to cut the spewing pipeline so that a containment cap could be fitted.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The only reason PCTs will do this is for cost containment.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
It is technically possible for molten fuel to melt the containment vessels around the core, but it is extremely unlikely.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
If, of course, the containment vessel worked as planned and tested.
Fisher, David E. Fire and Ice - the Greenhouse Effect, Ozone Depletion, and Nuclear Winter (1990)
The group said performance was driven by'very strong income performance and cost containment '.