# continuation

/kənˌtɪnjuˈeɪʃən/ (US) · /kəntˌɪnjuːˈeɪʃən/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/continuation
Updated: 2026-06-20

## Senses

### 1. carrying on

noun · CEFR B2

the act of starting again or keeping something going without stopping.

For teachers: the act or state of continuing an activity or process without interruption or after a brief pause.

- The continuation of the strike caused many problems for commuters.
- The board of directors voted for the continuation of the current policy, despite significant pressure from shareholders to pivot toward a more aggressive strategy.

### 2. a further part

noun · CEFR B2

a part that is added to something to make it longer or to finish it.

For teachers: something that extends, supplements, or carries on a previous part or series.

- You can read the continuation of this story on page ten.
- The second volume serves as a direct continuation of the first, picking up the narrative exactly where the previous chapter concluded.

### 3. program state

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical

a saved record of what a computer program is doing at a specific moment so it can be restarted later.

For teachers: a data structure representing the execution state of a program at a specific point, allowing the control flow to be resumed later.

- The programmer used a continuation to handle the result of the web request.
- By capturing the current continuation, the language runtime can suspend the execution of a coroutine and resume it once the I/O operation completes.

Usage: Often used in the context of functional programming and asynchronous operations.

### 4. basketball shot

noun · CEFR C1 · American English

a shot in basketball that counts even if a foul happened while the player was moving to shoot.

For teachers: a successful shot made with a single continuous motion beginning before a foul, which is ruled valid under specific league regulations.

- The referee ruled it was a continuation, so the basket counted.
- The veteran player expertly drew the contact while already in his shooting motion, earning a continuation and a chance for a three-point play.

## Examples

- The movie is a continuation of the story from the first film.
- The board of directors voted for the continuation of the current policy despite the recent drop in profits.
- The philosopher argued that the soul's existence is a continuation of consciousness beyond the physical realm, rather than a discrete ending of the self at the moment of death.

---

From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.