Topic: GRAMMAR
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| Date: | 1600-1700 |
| Language: | Latin |
| Origin: | continuus, from continere; CONTAIN |
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con‧tin‧u‧ous S2 W3
1 continuing to happen or exist without stopping [↪ continue]: continuous economic growth
continuous economic growth2 something such as a line that is continuous does not have any spaces or holes in it
3 a way of judging a student's ability by looking at the work they have done during the year rather than by an examination
continuous assessment
British EnglishSE4SLG technical the continuous form of a verb shows that an action is continuing. In English, this is formed by the verb 'be', followed by a present participle, as in 'I was waiting for the bus.'
—continuously adverb: UMNO had ruled Malaysia continuously since independence.
WORD CHOICE: UMNO had ruled Malaysia continuously since independence.WORD CHOICE: continual, continuouscontinual and continuous are both used to describe things that continue without stopping • continual rain • a continuous fall in unemployment since 1998Use continuous to describe things that go on without a break • I had six continuous hours of meetings. • a continuous line of treesUse continual to describe things which happen repeatedly • his continual attempts to interveneUse continual when the thing that is happening is annoying or bad • She was fed up with the continual arguments. ➔ See also continual
