Adjacent Words

Continuous definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CONTINUOUS, a. [L.] Joined without intervening space; as continuous depth.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: continuing in time or space without interruption; "a continuous rearrangement of electrons in the solar atoms results in the emission of light"- James Jeans; "a continuous bout of illness lasting six months"; "lived in continuous fear"; "a continuous row of warehouses"; "a continuous line has no gaps or breaks in it"; "moving midweek holidays to the nearest Monday or Friday allows uninterrupted work weeks" [syn: continuous, uninterrupted] [ant: discontinuous, noncontinuous]
2: of a function or curve; extending without break or irregularity [ant: discontinuous]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Latin continuus, from contin?re to hold together — more at contain Date: 1673 1. marked by uninterrupted extension in space, time, or sequence 2. of a function having the property that the absolute value of the numerical difference between the value at a given point and the value at any point in a neighborhood of the given point can be made as close to zero as desired by choosing the neighborhood small enough Synonyms: see continual • continuously adverb • continuousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 unbroken, uninterrupted, connected throughout in space or time. 2 Gram. = PROGRESSIVE. Phrases and idioms: continuous assessment the evaluation of a pupil's progress throughout a course of study, as well as or instead of by examination. continuous creation the creation of the universe or the matter in it regarded as a continuous process. continuous stationery a continuous ream of paper, usu. perforated to form single sheets. Derivatives: continuously adv. continuousness n. Etymology: L continuus uninterrupted f. continere (as COM-, tenere hold)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Continuous Con*tin"u*ous, a. [L. continuus, fr. continere to hold together. See Continent.] 1. Without break, cessation, or interruption; without intervening space or time; uninterrupted; unbroken; continual; unceasing; constant; continued; protracted; extended; as, a continuous line of railroad; a continuous current of electricity. he can hear its continuous murmur. --Longfellow. 2. (Bot.) Not deviating or varying from uninformity; not interrupted; not joined or articulated. Continuous brake (Railroad), a brake which is attached to each car a train, and can be caused to operate in all the cars simultaneously from a point on any car or on the engine. Continuous impost. See Impost. Syn: Continuous, Continual. Usage: Continuous is the stronger word, and denotes that the continuity or union of parts is absolute and uninterrupted; as, a continuous sheet of ice; a continuous flow of water or of argument. So Daniel Webster speaks of ``a continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England.'' Continual, in most cases, marks a close and unbroken succession of things, rather than absolute continuity. Thus we speak of continual showers, implying a repetition with occasional interruptions; we speak of a person as liable to continual calls, or as subject to continual applications for aid, etc. See Constant.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. A continuous process or event continues for a period of time without stopping. Residents report that they heard continuous gunfire. ...all employees who had a record of five years' continuous employment with the firm... = unbroken ADJ: usu ADJ n • continuously The civil war has raged almost continuously since 1976... It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in America. ADV: usu ADV with v 2. A continuous line or surface has no gaps or holes in it. ...a continuous line of boats. ADJ: usu ADJ n 3. In English grammar, continuous verb groups are formed using the auxiliary 'be' and the present participle of a verb, as in 'I'm feeling a bit tired' and 'She had been watching them for some time'. Continuous verb groups are used especially when you are focusing on a particular moment. Compare simple. = progressive ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Connected, continued, unbroken, uninterrupted, unintermitted.

Moby Thesaurus

abiding, accordant, ageless, alike, articulated, automatic, balanced, catenated, ceaseless, chronological, coeternal, concatenated, connected, consecutive, consistent, consonant, constant, continual, continued, continuing, correspondent, cyclical, dateless, direct, durational, durative, endless, equable, equal, eternal, eterne, even, ever-being, ever-durable, ever-during, ever-recurring, everlasting, everliving, featureless, flat, frequent, gapless, haunting, homogeneous, immediate, immemorial, immutable, incessant, indefatigable, indestructible, infinite, interminable, invariable, joined, jointless, lasting, level, linked, measured, mechanical, methodic, monolithic, monotonous, never-ceasing, never-ending, nonstop, nonterminating, nonterminous, of a piece, olamic, ordered, orderly, perdurable, perennial, periodic, permanent, perpetual, persistent, reappearing, recurrent, recurring, regular, remaining, repetitive, returning, revenant, robotlike, round-the-clock, running, seamless, sempiternal, sequent, sequential, serial, serried, smooth, stable, staying, steadfast, steady, sticking, straight, sustained, systematic, temporal, thematic, thick-coming, tight, timeless, twenty-four-hour, ubiquitous, unbroken, unceasing, unchangeable, unchanged, unchanging, undeviating, undifferentiated, undiversified, undying, unending, uniform, unintermitted, unintermittent, unintermitting, uninterrupted, unrelieved, unremitting, unruffled, unstopped, unvaried, unvarying, without end