different between fixed vs continual

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?kst/
• Rhymes: -?kst

Verb

fixed

1. simple past tense and past participle of fix

Adjective

fixed (comparative more fixed, superlative most fixed)

1. Not changing, not able to be changed, staying the same.

   fixed assets

   I work fixed hours for a fixed salary.

   Every religion has its own fixed ideas.

   He looked at me with a fixed glare.

2. Stationary.
3. Attached; affixed.
5. Chemically stable.
6. Supplied with what one needs.

   She's nicely fixed after two divorce settlements.

7. (law) Of sound, recorded on a permanent medium.

   In the United States, recordings are only granted copyright protection when the sounds in the recording were fixed and first published on or after February 15, 1972.

8. (dialectal, informal) Surgically rendered infertile (spayed, neutered or castrated).

   a fixed tomcat; the she-cat has been fixed

9. Rigged; fraudulently prearranged.
10. (of a problem) Resolved; corrected.
11. Repaired

Synonyms

• (not able to be changed, staying the same): stable, immobile

Antonyms

• (not able to be changed, staying the same): mobile

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• broken
• crooked
• bribe

Anagrams

• defix

English

Alternative forms

• continuall (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English continuel, from Old French continuel, formed from Latin continuus (“continuous”) with the suffix -el.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?t?nju?l/, /k?n?t?nj?l/
• Hyphenation: con?tin?u?al, con?tin?ual

Adjective

continual (not comparable)

1. Recurring in steady, rapid succession.
2. (proscribed) Seemingly continuous; appearing to have no end or interruption.
3. (proscribed) Forming a continuous series.

Usage notes

In careful usage, continual refers to repeated actions “continual objections”, while continuous refers to uninterrupted actions or objects “continuous flow”, “played music continuously from dusk to dawn”. However, this distinction is not observed in informal usage, a noted example being the magic spell name “continual light” (unbroken light), in the game Dungeons & Dragons.

Related terms

• continuance
• continuation
• continue
• continuous
• continuum

Translations

References

Further reading

• continual in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• continual in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• inoculant