Nana, When used with an adjective they both function as linking verbs and have the same meaning: stay.....continue in the same condition remain....continue unchanged It is important to remain calm when skydiving. It is important to stay calm when skydiving. She stayed angry the whole time. She remained angry the whole time. stay alert remain alert stay awake remain awake etc.

All the other answers seem good. I just add one more relating to "with an adjective". I think "stay" can be used as a noun, but maybe not "remain". "A short stay" uses "stay" as a noun. I can't think of any way to make a noun out of remain however. She is in hospital, but her stay will be short. She is in for a short stay in hospital. But, she must remain in hospital for a short time.

They can be synonymous, and either one works well in some sentences: "Stay/Remain here while I look around." "I have decided to stay/remain in China for another week." But there are also many idiomatic uses for each one specifically. Just a few examples: "Don't stay out too late." "I stayed the week at his house." "We remain committed to our company's goals." "The prisoners remained in custody." You can see many others by checking these words on a site like http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

Hello Nana, 'to stay at a place' means to reside temporarily as in staying at a hotel. 'to remain at a place' means to stay behind or in the same place as in remain at home.