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more about continuous
continuous |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Continuous \Con*tin"u*ous\, a. [L. continuus, fr continere to hold together. See {Continent}.] 1. Without break, cessation, or interruption; without intervening space or time; uninterrupted; unbroken; continual; unceasing; constant; continued; protracted; extended; as a continuous line of railroad; a continuous current of electricity. he can hear its continuous murmur. --Longfellow. 2. (Bot.) Not deviating or varying from uninformity; not interrupted; not joined or articulated. {Continuous brake} (Railroad), a brake which is attached to each car a train, and can be caused to operate in all the cars simultaneously from a point on any car or on the engine. {Continuous impost}. See {Impost}. Syn: {Continuous}, {Continual}. Usage: Continuous is the stronger word and denotes that the continuity or union of parts is absolute and uninterrupted; as a continuous sheet of ice; a continuous flow of water or of argument. So Daniel Webster speaks of ``a continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England.'' Continual, in most cases, 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, etc See {Constant}. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: continuous adj 1: continuing in time or space without interruption; "a continuous rearrangement of electrons in the solar atoms results in the emission of light"- James Jeans; "a continuous bout of illness lasting six months"; "lived in continuous fear"; "a continuous row of warehouses"; "a continuous line has no gaps or breaks in it"; "moving midweek holidays to the nearest Monday or Friday allows uninterrupted work weeks" [syn: {uninterrupted}] [ant: {discontinuous}] 2: (mathematics) of a function or curve; extending without break or irregularity [ant: {discontinuous}]
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