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HSS Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

Content, Contented

Hi. Hope this finds you all doing well.

I've always thought "content" or "contented" was interpreted as "happy." If somebody said, "He was content to be in the meeting," I thought he was happy to be in the meeting. I've always thought this way ... until I came upon the paragraph. Savannah and "I" are now sort of seeing each other. Randy used to flirt with her a lot. Brad and Susan are good friends of Savannah.


By midafternoon we were lying on towels near the rest of the group behind the house. A few curious glances drifted in our direction, but for the most part, no one seemed to care that I was there, except for Randy and Susan. Susan frowned pointedly at Savannah; Randy, meanwhile, was content to hang out with Brad and Susan as the third wheel, licking his wounds.
To me, "content" now does not seem to mean "satisfied" but "not complaining or not desiring something more." Am I right about it? Does this apply to "contended" too?

Hiro/ Sendai, Japan
  

Top answer

You have it right. It would apply to both. " Satisfied may mean very happy (satiated) or it may mean appeased to the point where objections are no longer being raised.

— Avangi

  • You have it right.
  • It would apply to both.
  • " Satisfied may mean very happy (satiated) or it may mean appeased to the point where objections are no longer being raised.
  • You have to depend on context to give you a clue to what degree of satisfaction we're talking about.
  • - A.
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4 Answers
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You have it right. It would apply to both. It also applies to "satisfied." Satisfied may mean very happy (satiated) or it may mean appeased to the point where objections are no longer being raised. You have to depend on context to give you a clue to what degree of satisfaction we're talking about.

- A.
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I see it now. You've cleared the fog! Thanks.

Hiro/ Sendai, Japan
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HSSTo me, "content" now does not seem to mean "satisfied" but "not complaining or not desiring something more." Am I right about it? Does this apply to "contended" too?
It may interest you that you need the ed if the word is an adjectival attribute, in other words, a noun follows: a contented/satisfied
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Yup, CB. That I know. Thanks for your headsup, though.

Hiro/ Sendai, Japan
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