Adjective The baby looks content in her crib. A fancy hotel is not necessary; I'd be content with a warm meal and a clean place to sleep. No, I don't want to play. I'm content to watch. Not content to stay at home, she set off to see the world at the age of 16. Polls show that voters are growing less and less content with the current administration. Verb The toys contented the children, at least for a little while. a person easily contented by life's simple pleasures See More
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1)
Middle English, borrowed from Anglo-French & Medieval Latin; Anglo-French, borrowed from Medieval Latin contentum (usually in plural contenta), noun derivative from neuter past participle of Latin continēre "to hold together, restrain, have as contents" — more at contain
Adjective
Middle English, borrowed from Anglo-French, going back to Latin contentus "satisfied," from past participle of continēre "to hold together, restrain, have as contents" — more at contain
Note: The sense "satisfied" of Latin contentus presumably developed from the more literal meaning "self-contained, restrained, held in." This is still somewhat apparent in early uses, as in this passage from Plautus's Poenulus: "ego faxo posthac di deaeque ceteri / contentiores mage erunt atque avidi minus, / quom scibunt, ut Veneri adierit leno manum." ("I will make the other gods and goddesses more restrained (contentiores) and less greedy when they know how the procurer played a trick on Venus.")
Verb
Middle English contenten "to rest satisfied, satisfy," borrowed from Anglo-French contenter "to satisfy," borrowed from Medieval Latin contentāre, verbal derivative of Latin contentus "satisfied" — more at content entry 2