continue

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See also: continué and continúe

English

Etymology

From Middle English continuen, from Old French continuer, from Latin continuāre. Displaced native Old English þurhwunian.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: kən-tĭnʹyo͞o, IPA(key): /kənˈtɪnjuː/, /-(j)ɪu̯/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -uː

Verb

continue (third-person singular simple present continues, present participle continuing, simple past and past participle continued)

  1. (transitive) To proceed with (doing an activity); to prolong (an activity).
    Shall I continue speaking, or will you just interrupt me again?
    Do you want me to continue to unload these?
    • 1992, Rudolf M Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page vii:
      Firstly, I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material, rather than on herbarium plants.
    • 2012 April 15, Phil McNulty, BBC‎:
      Fuelled by their fury, Spurs surged forward and gave themselves hope after 56 minutes when Scott Parker's precise through-ball released Adebayor. He was pulled down in the area by Cech but referee Atkinson allowed play to continue for Bale to roll the ball into an empty net.
    • 2022 January 12, “Network News: £7.2 million plan to stop flooding and protect South West rail link”, in RAIL, number 948, page 12:
      It has emphasised that the proposals do not involve any work on the railway itself, so train services would continue to run throughout.
  2. (transitive) To make last; to prolong.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: , 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1:
      , New York, 2001, p.74:
      Can you account him wise or discreet that would willingly have his health, and yet will do nothing that should procure or continue it?
    • 1905, E. M. Forster, Where Angels Fear to Tread , chapter 4:
      Gino was distracted. She knew why; he wanted a son. He could talk and think of nothing else. His one desire was to become the father of a man like himself, and it held him with a grip he only partially understood, for it was the first great desire, the first great passion of his life. Falling in love was a mere physical triviality, like warm sun or cool water, beside this divine hope of immortality: "I continue."
  3. (transitive) To retain (someone or something) in a given state, position, etc.
    • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. , 3rd edition, London: William Rawley; rinted by J H for William Lee , →OCLC:
      […] dip the mouth of it within the second glass and remove your finger; continue it in that posture for a time, and it will unmingle the wine from the water […]
    • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 257:
      The schools were very much the brainchild of Bertin, and although the latter was ousted from the post of Controller-General by Choiseul in 1763, he was continued by the king as a fifth secretary of state […].
  4. (intransitive, copulative sense obsolete) To remain in a given place or condition; to remain in connection with; to abide; to stay.
  5. (intransitive) To resume.
    When will the concert continue?
  6. (transitive, law) To adjourn, prorogue, put off.
    This meeting has been continued to the thirteenth of July.
  7. (poker slang) To make a continuation bet.

Usage notes

  • In the transitive sense, continue may be followed by either the present participle or the infinitive; hence use either "to continue writing" or "to continue to write".
  • As continue conveys the sense of progression, it is pleonastic to follow it with "on" (as in "Continue on with what you were doing").

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

continue (plural continues)

  1. (video games) An option allowing the player to resume play after game over, when all lives have been lost, while retaining their progress.
    • 2008, Jeannie Novak, Luis Levy, Play the Game: The Parent's Guide to Video Games, →ISBN, page 48:
      So if you died battling the green monster inside the cave—and you had run out of lives—maybe a continue would be available.
    • 2012, James A. Newman, Best Before: Videogames, Supersession and Obsolescence, →ISBN, page 128:
      Moreover, where three lives and a sparse availability of extra life-giving '1-Ups' marked the 1991 experience, the iPod player is offered an unlimited number of continues with which to progress through the gameworld.

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation

Adjective

continue

  1. inflection of continu:
    1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
    2. definite neuter singular attributive
    3. plural attributive

French

Pronunciation

Verb

continue

  1. inflection of continuer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Adjective

continue

  1. feminine singular of continu

Anagrams

Galician

Verb

continue

  1. (reintegrationist norm) inflection of continuar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Interlingua

Adjective

continue (comparative plus continue, superlative le plus continue)

  1. continuous

Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /konˈti.nu.e/, /konˈti.nwe/
  • Rhymes: -inue, -inwe
  • Hyphenation: con‧tì‧nu‧e, con‧tì‧nue

Adjective

continue f pl

  1. feminine plural of continuo

References

  1. ^ continuo in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Anagrams

Latin

Adjective

continue

  1. vocative masculine singular of continuus

References

  • “continue”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • continue in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Portuguese

Verb

continue

  1. inflection of continuar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Romanian

Pronunciation

Adjective

continue (plural)

  1. feminine/neuter plural of continuu

Verb

continue (third person subjunctive)

  1. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of continua
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