noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
/kənˈtɪnjuəm/
/-(j)ɪu̯əm/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:K AH0 N T IH1 N Y UW0 AH0 M
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A continuous series or whole, no part of which is noticeably different from its adjacent parts, although the ends or extremes of it are very different from each other.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
Near-synonym: spectrum
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: spectrum
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A continuous extent.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
The nondenumerable set of real numbers; more generally, any compact connected metric space.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: mathematics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
A touch-sensitive strip, similar to an electronic standard musical keyboard, except that the note steps are 1⁄100 of a semitone, and so are not separately marked.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
a continuous nonspatial whole or extent or succession in which no part or portion is distinct or distinguishable from adjacent parts
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: time
Narrower terms: history
History
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin continuum, neuter form of continuus, from contineō (“contain, enclose”).
Across languages
Translations
51 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Chinese Cantonese:
連續體 /连续体
(lin4 zuk6 tai3)
— continuous series or whole
Chinese Mandarin:
連續體 /连续体
(liánxùtǐ)
— continuous series or whole
Danish:
kontinuum
— continuous series or whole
Finnish:
jatkumo
— continuous series or whole
French:
continuum
— continuous series or whole
Greek:
συνεχές
(synechés)
— continuous series or whole
Hebrew:
רצף
(rétsef)
— continuous series or whole
Japanese:
連続体
(renzokutai)
— continuous series or whole
Kazakh:
тұтас орта
(tūtas orta)
— continuous series or whole
Polish:
kontinuum
— continuous series or whole
Portuguese:
continuum
— continuous series or whole
