- going on or extending without interruption or break; unbroken; connected
- Math. designating a function whose value at each point is closely approached by its values at neighboring points
Origin of continuous
Classical Latin continuus: see continue
adjective
The definition of continuous is going on without being interrupted.
An example of continuous is a show that runs for 20 years.
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"continuous." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Continuous>.
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continuous. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Continuous
continuous
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"continuous." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Continuous>.
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continuous. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Continuous
continuous
adjective
- Uninterrupted in time, sequence, substance, or extent. See Synonyms at continual.
- Attached together in repeated units: a continuous form fed into a printer.
- Mathematics a. Of or relating to a line or curve that extends without a break or irregularity.b. Of or relating to a function between two topological spaces such that the preimage of any open set in the range is an open set in the domain.
Origin of continuous
From Latin continuus ; see continue .Related Forms:
- con·tin′u·ous·ly
adverb
- con·tin′u·ous·ness
noun
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"continuous." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Continuous>.
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continuous. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Continuous
- Relating to a line or curve that extends without a break or irregularity.
- A function in which changes, however small, to any x-value result in small changes to the corresponding y-value, without sudden jumps. Technically, a function is continuous at the point c if it meets the following condition: for any positive number ε, however small, there exists a positive number Δ such that for all x within the distance Δ from c, the value of f(x) will be within the distance ε from f(c). Polynomials, exponential functions, and trigonometric functions are examples of continuous functions.
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"continuous." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Continuous>.
APA Style
continuous. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Continuous
Adjective
(not comparable)
- Without break, cessation, or interruption; without intervening time.
- a continuous current of electricity
- Without intervening space; continued; protracted; extended.
- a continuous line of railroad
- (botany) Not deviating or varying from uniformity; not interrupted; not joined or articulated.
- (analysis, of a function) Such that, for every x in the domain, for each small open interval D about f(x), there's an interval containing x whose image is in D.
- (mathematics, more generally, of a function) Such that each open set in the range has an open preimage.
- Each continuous function from the real line to the rationals is constant, since the rationals are totally disconnected.
- (grammar) Expressing an ongoing action or state.
Usage 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.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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MLA Style
"continuous." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Continuous>.
APA Style
continuous. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Continuous
Sentence Examples
- All he sees is one continuous line.
- The building of the Canadian Pacific railway through almost continuous rocks for 800 miles was one of the greatest engineering feats of modern times.
- To understand the laws of this continuous movement is the aim of history.
- This girl's code, if it is in fact a code, is mostly one continuous line, with hardly any punctuation.
- By the use of a key in the battery circuit as well as an interrupter or current reverser, signals can be given by breaking up the continuous hum in the telephone into long and short periods.
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