continual

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1. Continual is the older word (14th century), and once had all the meanings it now (since the mid-19th century) shares with continuous (17th century). Fowler (1926) expressed the current distinction somewhat cryptically as follows: 'That is -al which either is always going on or occurs at short intervals and never comes (or is regarded as never coming) to an end. That is -ous in which no break occurs between the beginning and the (not necessarily or even presumably long-deferred) end.'

2. Continuous is used in physical contexts (such as lines, roads, etc.) and is preferred in technical contexts (e.g. continuous assessment / continuous playback / continuous stationery). The other principal use is with reference to time: continuous here means 'going on uninterrupted' whereas continual means 'constantly or frequently recurring'. The following examples show how difficult it is to keep the two meanings apart:

The correspondence between the two men was continuous throughout the next few months—V. Brome, 1978

The 1840s were years of continuous self-education for Philip Henry Gosse—A. Thwaite, 1984

The house and garden had seen their best days, and the decline was now continual, from season to season—R. Frame, 1986

His son was a continual source of amusement and delight to him—E. Blair, 1990

He singled out two big issues that should be addressed: 'The first is the continual underfunding of road and rail infrastructure.'—Lloyd's List, 2006.

Note that other words are sometimes preferable, e.g. (in place of continual) constant, habitual, intermittent, recurrent, repeated, and (in place of continuous) ceaseless, constant, incessant, unbroken, uninterrupted. Note also that constant can be used to mean both continual and continuous.

3. Of the corresponding adverbs, continually (14th century) is older by far than continuously (17th century). Here, for some reason, the current distinction is clearer to see; continually can be defined as 'repeatedly; again and again' and continuously as 'without interruption':

This lost energy must be continuously supplied by the engines—C. E. Dole, 1971

He said that the business of the court...was being continually held up by irrelevancies—J. B. Morton, 1974

The black coat had lost its warmth and he shivered continually—J. M. Coetzee, 1983

Clinical governance requires that the quality of medical care be continuously monitored—Bath Chronicle, 2001.

In the following example, continuously seems to be wrongly used for continually:

The Chinese officials also continuously stated that they could put a stop to inflation at any time—P. Lowe, 1989.

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adjective

Existing or occurring without interruption or end: around-the-clock, ceaseless, constant, continuous, endless, eternal, everlasting, incessant, interminable, nonstop, ongoing, perpetual, persistent, relentless, round-the-clock, timeless, unceasing, unending, unfailing, uninterrupted, unremitting. See continue/stop/pause.

adj

Definition: constant, incessant
Antonyms: broken, ceasing, checked, halting, inconstant, infrequent, intermittent, interrupted, occasional, temporary

IN BRIEF: Occurring repeatedly.

Dave continually tried to succeed.

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For a list of words related to continual, see:

• Relative Time - continual: (adj) chronic, constant, unceasing, uninterrupted

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See words rhyming with "continual."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Continual.

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - stadig, vedvarende

Nederlands (Dutch)
voortdurend, herhaaldelijk

Français (French)
adj. - continuel, incessant

Deutsch (German)
adj. - dauernd, ständig

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - συνεχής, αδιάκοπος, έμμονος, επίμονος

Italiano (Italian)
continuo

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - contínuo

Русский (Russian)
постоянный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - continuo, constante

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - ständig, återkommande, ihållande

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
持续不断的, 继续的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 持續不斷的, 繼續的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 끊임없는, 거듭되는

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 頻繁な, 絶え間ない, 連続的な

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) مستمر, متواصل, دائم, متلاحق‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮לא פוסק, מתמיד, נמשך‬

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