self-contained Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite constituting a complete and independent unit in and of itself
    • the university is like a self-contained city with shops and all amenities
  2. adjective satellite in full control of your faculties
    self-possessed; equanimous; self-collected; collected; poised.
    • the witness remained collected throughout the cross-examination
    • perfectly poised and sure of himself
    • more self-contained and more dependable than many of the early frontiersmen
    • strong and self-possessed in the face of trouble

WordNet

Self`-con*tained" adjective
Definitions
  1. Having self-control; reserved; uncommunicative; wholly engrossed in one's self.
  2. (Mach.) Having all the essential working parts connected by a bedplate or framework, or contained in a case, etc., so that mutual relations of the parts do not depend upon fastening outside of the machine itself.

Webster 1913