Word Study
continuous
CIDE DICTIONARY
continuous, a. [L. continuus, fr. continere to hold together. See Continent.].
- 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. [1913 Webster]"he can hear its continuous murmur." [1913 Webster]
- Not deviating or varying from uninformity; not interrupted; not joined or articulated. [1913 Webster]
Syn. -- Continuous, Continual.
OXFORD DICTIONARY
continuous, adj.
1 unbroken, uninterrupted, connected throughout in space or time.
2 Gram. = PROGRESSIVE.
1 unbroken, uninterrupted, connected throughout in space or time.
2 Gram. = PROGRESSIVE.
Idiom
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.
Derivative
continuously adv. continuousness n.
Etymology
L continuus uninterrupted f. continere (as COM-, tenere hold)
THESAURUS
continuous
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 endROGET THESAURUS
continuous
Continuity
N continuity, consecution, consecutiveness, succession, round, suite, progression, series, train chain, catenation, concatenation, scale, gradation, course, ceaselessness, constant flow, unbroken extent, procession, column, retinue, cortege, cavalcade, rank and file, line of battle, array, pedigree, genealogy, lineage, race, ancestry, descent, family, house, line, line of ancestors, strain, rank, file, line, row, range, tier, string, thread, team, suit, colonnade, continuous, continued, consecutive, progressive, gradual, serial, successive, immediate, unbroken, entire, linear, in a line, in a row, uninterrupted, unintermitting, unremitting, unrelenting (perseverence), perennial, evergreen, constant, continuously, seriatim, in a line, in succession, in turn, running, gradually, step by step, gradatim, at a stretch, in file, in column, in single file, in Indian file.For further exploring for "continuous" in Webster Dictionary Online