containingly

Containingly is an adverb derived from the verb contain, formed with the -ing participle and the adverbial suffix -ly. It describes the manner of containing or enclosing something and is used to indicate that a boundary or interior holds elements within. In contemporary English, containingly is rare and is generally found in experimental, scholarly, or highly formal prose rather than everyday speech.

Etymology and form: contain comes from Latin continere, with -ing and -ly affixes producing the adverbial form containingly. As an adverb, it functions to modify verbs or adjectives that express containment or enclosure, though its use is atypical in modern standard writing.

Usage notes: Because of its rarity, most writers avoid containingly and instead rely on simpler constructions such as “in a container,” “to contain,” “with containment,” or “containing.” The term may appear in philosophical discussions of containment relations, in analyses of bounded regions in cartography or topology, or in literary or experimental writing where emphasis on enclosure is intended. In corpus data and major dictionaries, it is not commonly listed, and when encountered, it is usually flagged as nonstandard or highly context-specific.

Examples and caveats: If used, accepting that containingly can feel awkward or archaic in ordinary prose, and readers may favor clearer alternatives. It is most likely to appear in specialized discourse or playful, avant-garde writing that seeks to foreground the notion of containment as a stylistic device.

See also: contain, containment, enclosure, enclosing.