Remaining means what's left after some has been used, taken away, or dealt with. If you eat three cookies from a plate of ten, the remaining seven cookies are still there waiting. When a teacher says “use the remaining time to check your work,” she means the time that's left before the period ends.

The word often appears when keeping track of quantities or time. A basketball team might play hard to protect their lead during the remaining minutes of the game. A family on a road trip might calculate how many remaining miles they need to drive. During a book discussion, you might wonder what will happen to the remaining characters after the main conflict is resolved.

Remaining carries a sense of continuation: whatever is remaining hasn't disappeared, it's still there and still matters. The remaining students in an after-school club are the ones who stayed committed. Your remaining allowance is what you haven't spent yet, still available for something you want to buy. Understanding what's remaining helps you plan, whether you're budgeting your time on a test, rationing supplies on a camping trip, or figuring out how many more chapters until you finish that exciting novel.