Continuous
Contents
English
Adjective
Continuous (not comparable)
- Without break, cessation, or interruption; without intervening time.
- Without intervening space; continued; protracted; extended.
- (botany) Not deviating or varying from uniformity; not interrupted; not joined or articulated.
- (analysis, of a function) Such that, for every <math>x</math> in the domain, for each small open interval <math>D</math> about <math>f(x)</math>, there's an interval containing <math>x</math> whose image is in <math>D</math>.
- (mathematics, more generally, of a function) Such that each open set in the range has an open preimage.
- (grammar) Expressing an ongoing action or state.
Adverbs for Continuous
maddeningly; providentially; monotonously; tiresomely; intolerably; incredibly; grimly; dangerously; indescribably; unbearably; alarmingly; frightfully; crazily; insufferably; solemnly; ruthlessly; appallingly; cleverly; dismally; noisily; provokingly; automatically.
Synonyms for Continuous
- (without break, cessation, or interruption in time): constant, continual (but see usage notes above), incessant, never-ending, ongoing, unbroken, unceasing, unending, uninterrupted
- (without break, cessation, or interruption in space): connected, unbroken
Antonyms for Continuous
- (without break, cessation, or interruption in time): broken, discontinuous, discrete, intermittent, interrupted
- (without break, cessation, or interruption in space): broken, disconnected, disjoint, unbroken
- (in mathematical analysis): discontinuous, stepwise
Derived terms
Related terms
continuity; continued; continuum
Thesaurus
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
Etymology
From Latin continuus, from contineō (“to hold together”).
Pronunciation
Notes
- Continuous is stronger than continual. It denotes that the continuity or union of parts is absolute and uninterrupted, as in a continuous sheet of ice, or a continuous flow of water or of argument. So Daniel Webster speaks of "a continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England." By contrast, continual usually 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.
Translations
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