one of the main landmasses of the globe, usually reckoned as seven in number (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and Antarctica).
a comparable landmass on another planet.
the mainland, as distinguished from islands or peninsulas.
the Continent, the mainland of Europe, as distinguished from the British Isles.
a continuous tract or extent, as of land.
Archaic. something that serves as a container or boundary.
exercising or characterized by restraint in relation to the desires or passions and especially to sexual desires; temperate.
able to control urinary and fecal discharge.
Obsolete. containing; being a container; capacious.
Obsolete. restraining or restrictive.
Obsolete. continuous; forming an uninterrupted tract, as land.
one of the earth's large land masses (Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, North and South America, and Antarctica)
that part of the earth's crust that rises above the oceans and is composed of sialic rocks. Including the continental shelves, the continents occupy 30 per cent of the earth's surface
obsolete
mainland as opposed to islands
a continuous extent of land
able to control urination and defecation
exercising self-restraint, esp from sexual activity; chaste
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin continent-, stem of continēns “holding together,” present participle of continēre “to hold together, keep in position,” equivalent to con- con- + -tinēre, combining form of tenēre “to hold”; see contain
A continent is one of the seven largest landmasses found on Earth. Asia, Australia, and Africa are three continents. Can you name the other four? Some folks forget the continent of Antarctica, because so few humans live there—none of them permanently. And you might be surprised how many people think that Africa is a country and not a continent. Due to a process known as continental drift, the extremely slow movement of the continents across the face of the globe, our world looks very different from the way it did 100 million years ago.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
French President Emmanuel Macron said his country had sought reinforcements from across the continent to help fight the blaze, including Canadair aircraft from Croatia and Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
It is part of a push by the country -- and others on the continent -- to add value domestically to raw materials to create jobs and lift export earnings.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
Tapping into the heat over the near continent, the UK is likely to enter another heatwave, with temperatures in England and Wales likely to peak around 25-32C for much of next week.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
Wildfires are raging across the southwest of the continent, forcing authorities to evacuate tens of thousands of people from tourist resorts and other areas close to population centers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
It is true that Native communities all across the North American continent grew those three crops and told stories about them.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
European regulators are also feeling the heat, with the French start-up Mistral recently presenting in Brussels a 22-point plan to accelerate AI development on the Continent.
From Barron's ● Apr. 25, 2026
A growing jet-fuel shortage has hit airports across the Continent with no quick fix in sight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026
In this uncertain context, Poland's subsoil appears to be a major asset for the energy sovereignty of the Old Continent.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
The Continent should want to reopen the Gulf quickly and avoid another surge of refugees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
“This: Will the Great Continent hold two Orgoreyns?”
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Her reporting spans three presidential campaigns, four administrations and four continents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
The other is in the US - although cases of the allergy have since been noted on all six continents where ticks live.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Volcanoes create new rock, plate tectonics reshape the continents and ocean floors, and weathering gradually breaks down exposed landscapes.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
Deutsche Bank publishes a report every summer, “Mapping The World,” in which the bank compares 69 different cities across six continents to compare costs and living standards.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
With the occupation of the Americas, most habitable areas of the continents and continental islands, plus oceanic islands from Indonesia to east of New Guinea, supported humans.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
