VOOZH about

URL: https://www.wordreference.com/definition/continual

⇱ continual - WordReference.com Dictionary of English

continual

Listen:
UK:**UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/kənˈtɪnjʊəl/US:USA pronunciation: IPA and respellingUSA pronunciation: IPA/kənˈtɪnjuəl/ ,USA pronunciation: respelling(kən tin′yo̅o̅ əl)


WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
con•tin•u•al /kənˈtɪnyuəl/USA pronunciation   adj. 
  1. happening regularly or frequently:continual bus departures.
  2. happening without much interruption:the continual rain all through April and May.
con•tin•u•al•ly, adv. 
    Use continual for actions that are repeated frequently or occur over and over again (especially actions that are annoying): The dog's continual barking was driving me nuts. The word continuous is used for actions that keep going and do not stop: The world of that novel was one long continuous war, between Eastasia and Oceania, or Eurasia and Oceania, it never mattered which.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
con•tin•u•al  (kən tin′yo̅o̅ əl),USA pronunciation adj. 
  1. of regular or frequent recurrence;
    often repeated;
    very frequent:continual bus departures.
  2. happening without interruption or cessation;
    continuous in time.
  • Latin, as above
  • Middle French
  • Medieval Latin continuālis, equivalent. to Latin continu(us) continuous + -ālis -al1; replacing Middle English continuel
  • 1300–50
con•tin′u•al′i•ty, con•tin′u•al•ness, n. 
    1. successive, recurrent, repetitive, repetitious. 2. unceasing, ceaseless, incessant, uninterrupted, unremitting, unbroken, permanent, unending.
    Although usage guides generally advise that continual may be used only to mean "intermittent'' and continuous only to mean "uninterrupted,'' the words are used interchangeably in all kinds of speech and writing with no distinction in meaning:The President's life is under continual (or continuous) scrutiny.Continuous (or continual) bursts of laughter punctuated her testimony. The adverbs continually and continuously are also used interchangeably. To make a clear distinction between what occurs at short intervals and what proceeds without interruption, writers sometimes use the contrasting terms intermittent (intermittent losses of power during the storm) and uninterrupted (uninterrupted reception during the storm) or similar expressions. Continuous is not interchangeable with continual in the sense of spatial relationship:a continuous (not continual) series of passages.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
continual /kənˈtɪnjʊəl/ adj
  1. recurring frequently, esp at regular intervals
  2. occurring without interruption; continuous in time
Etymology: 14th Century: from Old French continuel, from Latin continuus uninterrupted, from continēre to hold together, containconˈtinually adv
'continual' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):

🗣️Forum discussions with the word(s) "continual" in the title:


Look up "continual" at Merriam-Webster
Look up "continual" at dictionary.com
  • Go to Preferences page and choose from different actions for taps or mouse clicks.

In other languages: Spanish | French | Italian | Portuguese | Romanian | German | Dutch | Swedish | Russian | Polish | Czech | Greek | Turkish | Chinese | Japanese | Korean | Arabic

Advertisements
Advertisements
Report an inappropriate ad.
WordReference.com
WORD OF THE DAY
GET THE DAILY EMAIL!
Become a WordReference Supporter to view the site ad-free.
Firefox users: use search shortcuts for the fastest search of WordReference.
Copyright © 2026 WordReference.com
Please report any problems.