Definition of "containment" []

• The act or condition of containing. (noun)
• A policy of checking the expansion or influence of a hostile power or ideology, as by the creation of strategic alliances or support of client states in areas of conflict or unrest. (noun)
• A structure or system designed to prevent the accidental release of radioactive materials from a reactor. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But the term containment was originally created by State Department analyst George Kennan to describe the necessity for strong measures including the use of military force to prevent the spread of Soviet communism."
• "You use the term "containment" to describe the group who oppose a very strong policy of preventing Iran from obtaining the capability e.g., air strikes to destroy facilities."
• "And what we do is we through the natural flow of the river, some of that oil collects up in the bends up against the shore and in some cases we use what we call containment booms to actually draw the oil into close to shore, so we can actually capture it using vacuum trucks and manual labor to actually get in there and collect it."