diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 751386438661e..f4069ec5206f4 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -443,6 +443,8 @@ Deprecated or removed
     this is not true. If you are certain you need the old behavior, it is temporarily available
     as `Base._isleaftype` ([#17086]).
 
+  * `contains(eq, itr, item)` is deprecated in favor of `any` with a predicate ([#23716]).
+
 Command-line option changes
 ---------------------------
 
diff --git a/base/deprecated.jl b/base/deprecated.jl
index d09166cad969f..c1fd510d766ec 100644
--- a/base/deprecated.jl
+++ b/base/deprecated.jl
@@ -1806,6 +1806,8 @@ import .Iterators.enumerate
     return p
 end
 
+@deprecate contains(eq::Function, itr, x) any(y->eq(y,x), itr)
+
 # END 0.7 deprecations
 
 # BEGIN 1.0 deprecations
diff --git a/base/reduce.jl b/base/reduce.jl
index 6b0415fbe266d..418e686307206 100644
--- a/base/reduce.jl
+++ b/base/reduce.jl
@@ -637,38 +637,6 @@ const ∈ = in
 ∋(itr, x)= ∈(x, itr)
 ∌(itr, x)=!∋(itr, x)
 
-"""
-    contains(fun, itr, x) -> Bool
-
-Returns `true` if there is at least one element `y` in `itr` such that `fun(y,x)` is `true`.
-
-```jldoctest
-julia> vec = [10, 100, 200]
-3-element Array{Int64,1}:
-  10
- 100
- 200
-
-julia> contains(==, vec, 200)
-true
-
-julia> contains(==, vec, 300)
-false
-
-julia> contains(>, vec, 100)
-true
-
-julia> contains(>, vec, 200)
-false
-```
-"""
-function contains(eq::Function, itr, x)
-    for y in itr
-        eq(y, x) && return true
-    end
-    return false
-end
-
 
 ## count
 
diff --git a/doc/src/stdlib/arrays.md b/doc/src/stdlib/arrays.md
index 7c46de37df2b4..1f6a8d0c4f7e4 100644
--- a/doc/src/stdlib/arrays.md
+++ b/doc/src/stdlib/arrays.md
@@ -106,7 +106,6 @@ Base.flipdim
 Base.circshift
 Base.circshift!
 Base.circcopy!
-Base.contains(::Function, ::Any, ::Any)
 Base.find(::Any)
 Base.find(::Function, ::Any)
 Base.findn
diff --git a/test/reduce.jl b/test/reduce.jl
index 9605b9b0a0707..bbcf4b1b9400b 100644
--- a/test/reduce.jl
+++ b/test/reduce.jl
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ A = reshape(map(UInt8, 1:100), (10,10))
 let A = collect(1:10)
     @test A ∋ 5
     @test A ∌ 11
-    @test contains(==,A,6)
+    @test any(y->y==6,A)
 end
 
 # issue #18695