# continuous

/kənˈtɪnjuəs/ (US) · /kəntˈɪnjuːəs/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/continuous
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. without stopping

adjective · CEFR B1

happening for a long time without any breaks or interruptions.

For teachers: forming an unbroken whole in time; occurring without cessation.

- The continuous noise from the construction site made it hard to sleep.
- The factory has been in continuous operation for over fifty years, never once shutting down its main assembly line.

### 2. without gaps

adjective · CEFR B2

forming a single line or surface without any spaces or holes.

For teachers: forming an unbroken physical sequence or spatial extent.

- The artist drew a continuous line across the paper without lifting her pen.
- The property is surrounded by a continuous stone wall that stretches for several miles along the coast.

### 3. grammar

adjective · CEFR B1 · Technical

used to describe verb forms that show an action is still happening.

For teachers: denoting a grammatical aspect that describes an action or state in progress at a specific time.

- In the sentence 'I am eating,' the verb is in the present continuous tense.
- Learners often struggle to distinguish between the present simple for habits and the present continuous for actions occurring at the moment of speaking.

Usage: In many English textbooks, this is synonymous with the 'progressive' aspect.

### 4. mathematics

adjective · CEFR C1 · Technical

describing a line or function on a graph that has no sudden jumps.

For teachers: describing a function for which small changes in the input result in small changes in the output, having no discontinuities.

- A continuous function can be drawn on a graph without ever lifting your pencil.
- The theorem only applies if the underlying function is continuous over the entire closed interval.

## Examples

- The machine makes a continuous humming sound all day.
- The heavy rain was continuous for three days, causing the local river to overflow its banks.
- In calculus, a continuous function is one where a small change in the input results in a small change in the output, represented visually as an unbroken line on a graph.

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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.