adj.
- without interruption.
▸forming a series with no exceptions or reversals.
▸Mathematics denoting a function of which the graph is a smooth unbroken curve.
- Grammar another term for progressive (in sense 3).
Derivative
- continuously adv.
- continuousness n.
Usage
Continuous and continual can both mean roughly ‘without interruption’ (five years of continuous/continual warfare), but continuous is much more prominent in this sense and can be used to refer to space as well as time, as in the development forms a continuous line along the coast. Continual, on the other hand, typically means ‘happening frequently, with intervals between’, as in the bus service has been disrupted by continual breakdowns.
Etymology
C17: from L. continuus ‘uninterrupted’, from continere ‘hang together’ (from con- ‘together with’ + tenere ‘hold’) + -ous.
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