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contents

contents

1.4
A list near the front of a book showing chapter titles and page numbers
  • noun
  • /ˈkɒntɛnts/
translation icon : índice
  • And here are the contents of this book.

Examples

  • Then there's like table of contents and table of contents keeps going.

  • She checked the contents at the start of the report to see what topics were included.

  • Alright, let's go back and look at the contents of these two sections.

  • The teacher handed out the syllabus, which included the contents of each chapter.

  • In the introduction, the author outlined the contents and structure of the book.

Synonyms

table of contents
vscontents
7 1.4

A list at the start of a book or document showing chapters and the pages they start on

is identical in meaning but gives numeric page numbers instead

Compounds

A list at the start of a book or document showing chapters and the pages they start on

Surface Forms

contents singular
contents plural

Morphology

contents = content (semi-transparent) = content + s

Formed from 'content' + plural '-s' but conventionalized to refer to the list of a book's sections (a 'table of contents') rather than merely 'things contained'.

Etymology

The word contents comes from an old Latin root ten that means 'to hold', and you can see the same idea in words like contain and container. A table of contents is simply a list of what a book 'holds' inside, so it tells you where to find each part.