different between continuous vs neverending

English

Etymology

From Latin continuus, from contine? (“hold together”). Displaced native Old English singal.

Pronunciation

• enPR: k?n-t?n?yo?o-?s, IPA^(key): /k?n?t?n.ju?.?s/

Adjective

continuous (not comparable)

1. Without stopping; without a break, cessation, or interruption.

   Synonyms: perpetual, nonstop, incessant, ongoing; see also Thesaurus:continuous

   Antonyms: broken, discontinuous, discrete, intermittent, interrupted

   • 1847, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline: a tale of Acadie, Ticknor and Fields (1854), page 90:

     he can hear its continuous murmur

2. Without intervening space; continued.

   Synonyms: protracted, extended, connected, continued, unbroken

   Antonyms: broken, disconnected, disjoint

3. (botany) Not deviating or varying from uniformity; not interrupted; not joined or articulated.
4. (mathematical analysis, of a function) Such that, for every x in the domain, for each small open interval D about f(x), there's an interval containing x whose image is in D.
5. (mathematics, more generally, of a function between two topological spaces) Such that each open set in the target space has an open preimage (in the domain space, with respect to the given function).

6. (grammar) Expressing an ongoing action or state.

Usage notes

• Continuous is stronger than continual. It denotes that the continuity or union of parts is absolute and uninterrupted, as in a continuous sheet of ice, or a continuous flow of water or of argument. So Daniel Webster speaks of "a continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England." By contrast, continual usually marks a close and unbroken succession of things, rather than absolute continuity. Thus we speak of continual showers, implying a repetition with occasional interruptions; we speak of a person as liable to continual calls, or as subject to continual applications for aid.

Derived terms

• continuous brake
• continuous impost
• continuously
• continuousness

Related terms

• contain
• continuity
• continued
• continuum

Translations

See also

• constant
• contiguous

References

English

Alternative forms

• never-ending

Etymology

never +? ending

Adjective

neverending (not comparable)

1. Having no end or being endless.

Synonyms

• unending; see also Thesaurus:endless
• eternal; see also Thesaurus:eternal

Translations

Anagrams

• nerve ending, nerve-ending