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• continent
  continent

  noun

  one of the main landmasses of the globe, usually reckoned as seven in number (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and Antarctica).
• Continent
  Continent

  noun

  the mainland of Europe as distinguished from the British Isles

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Which continent has the most countries?

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continent

American  

[kon-tn-uhnt] / ˈkɒn tn ənt /

noun

• continents
  plural

1. one of the main landmasses of the globe, usually reckoned as seven in number (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and Antarctica).

2. a comparable landmass on another planet.

3. the mainland, as distinguished from islands or peninsulas.

4. the Continent, the mainland of Europe, as distinguished from the British Isles.

5. a continuous tract or extent, as of land.

6. Archaic. something that serves as a container or boundary.

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adjective

1. exercising or characterized by restraint in relation to the desires or passions and especially to sexual desires; temperate.

2. able to control urinary and fecal discharge.

3. Obsolete. containing; being a container; capacious.

4. Obsolete. restraining or restrictive.

5. Obsolete. continuous; forming an uninterrupted tract, as land.

Continent ¹ British  

/ ˈkɒntɪnənt /

noun

1. the mainland of Europe as distinguished from the British Isles

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continent ² British  

/ ˈkɒntɪnənt /

adjective

1. able to control urination and defecation

2. exercising self-restraint, esp from sexual activity; chaste

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continent ³ British  

/ ˈkɒntɪnənt /

noun

1. one of the earth's large land masses (Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, North and South America, and Antarctica)

2. 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

3. obsolete

   1. mainland as opposed to islands

   2. a continuous extent of land

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continent Scientific  

/ kŏn′tə-nənt /

1. One of the seven great landmasses of the Earth. The continents are Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• continence
  noun
• continental
  adjective
• uncontinent
  adjective
• continentally
  adverb
• continently
  adverb
• uncontinently
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• continents
  plural

Etymology

Origin of continent

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

Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

continent Continent continents

European stocks will be able to withstand heightened bond volatility as revenues on the continent improve, UBS Wealth Management said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

Storage levels across the continent are low and countries are competing with Asian customers for cargoes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

Ruto wrote on X following the death, external: "I will remember him for his friendship, his energy, and his deep conviction in the possibilities of our continent."

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

The African Peer Review Mechanism, the institution behind AfCRA, says 23 countries on the continent are not rated at all by the traditional agencies.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

Some of the men had never been out of England before, let alone imagined a voyage to the southern continent.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

Europeans, who have warned the rest of the world for decades about climate change while neglecting to install air-conditioning in much of the Continent, baked all summer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

The heat is threatening harvests across the Continent, raising the spectre of soaring food prices.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

Newcastle have shifted policy this summer, targeting younger players on the Continent, with Lukas Hornicek the club's oldest arrival by a reasonable distance at 24 years of age.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

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

“This: Will the Great Continent hold two Orgoreyns?”

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

They’re continents, but they are only in maps that are very secret.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

The schnitzel sandwich at Miznon, a fast-casual chainlet with locations on four continents, is arguably the epitome of Israeli cuisine.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

As the equatorial Kelvin wave hits South America, the energy converts into a coastal Kelvin wave, and heads both north and south along the continents.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

The findings may also help scientists better understand how Earth's continents developed and how the planet gradually evolved into its modern form.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026

The title of this book will serve as shorthand for those proximate factors, which also enabled modern Europeans to conquer peoples of other continents.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond