CONTINUOUS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does continuous mean? 

• CONTINUOUS (adjective)
  The adjective CONTINUOUS has 2 senses:

1. continuing in time or space without interruption

2. of a function or curve; extending without break or irregularity

  Familiarity information: CONTINUOUS used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONTINUOUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Continuing in time or space without interruption

Synonyms:

continuous; uninterrupted

Context example:

moving midweek holidays to the nearest Monday or Friday allows uninterrupted work weeks

Similar:

around-the-clock; day-and-night; nonstop; round-the-clock (at all times)

ceaseless; constant; incessant; never-ending; perpetual; unceasing; unremitting (uninterrupted in time and indefinitely long continuing)

continual (having no interruptions)

dogging; persisting (relentless and indefatigable in pursuit or as if in pursuit)

endless (having the ends united so as to form a continuous whole)

free burning; sustained ((of an electric arc) continuous)

consecutive; straight (successive (without a break))

sustained (maintained at length without interruption or weakening)

Also:

unbroken (marked by continuous or uninterrupted extension in space or time or sequence)

Attribute:

continuity; persistence (the property of a continuous and connected period of time)

Antonym:

discontinuous (not continuing without interruption in time or space)

Derivation:

continuity (the property of a continuous and connected period of time)

continuity (uninterrupted connection or union)

continuousness (the quality of something that continues without end or interruption)

continuum (a continuous nonspatial whole or extent or succession in which no part or portion is distinct or distinguishable from adjacent parts)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of a function or curve; extending without break or irregularity

Domain category:

math; mathematics; maths (a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement)

Antonym:

discontinuous (of a function or curve; possessing one or more discontinuities)

Derivation:

continuity (uninterrupted connection or union)

continuum (a continuous nonspatial whole or extent or succession in which no part or portion is distinct or distinguishable from adjacent parts)

 Context examples 

Such devices may be electrical, fluidic or mechanical and are sometimes used to convert a small continuous power source into a short surge of energy or vice versa.

(Device Energy Storage System Problem Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)

Occurs when layers are separated as a result of continuous stress or impact.

(Delamination, Food and Drug Administration)

The mathematical practice of applying a model to continuous data which has a potentially infinite number, and divisibility, of attributes.

(Continuum Modeling, NCI Thesaurus)

A type of computed tomography in which the patient is moved through the scanner continuously rather than in increments, so that the path of the beam through the patient is a continuous spiral.

(Dynamic Spiral CT, NCI Thesaurus)

A device designed to give a continuous reading of the electrical currents of the heart.

(EKG or ECG Monitor Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

Newly described members of human enteroviruses are assigned continuous numbers with the species designated "human enterovirus".

(Enterovirus, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

In places the endoplasmic reticulum is continuous with the plasma membrane (CELL MEMBRANE) or outer membrane of the nuclear envelope.

(Endoplasmic Reticulum, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A procedure which records the electrical current in the heart in the form of a continuous strip graph.

(Electrocardiography, NCI Thesaurus)

A structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops.

(Coil Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

The instability of chromosomes is attributed to the continuous formation of novel chromosome mutations.

(Chromosomal Instability, NCI Thesaurus)