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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

continent

American  

[kon-tn-uhnt] / ˈkɒn tn ənt /

noun

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, ˌkɒntɪˈnɛntəl /

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 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. the mainland of Europe as distinguished from the British Isles

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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

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

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

The shift away from the center in the U.K. mirrored developments on the European Continent.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 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 particular form of instability—in which electoral outcomes haven’t caught up with voters’ frustrations—has long plagued polities on the Continent, where proportional voting systems accelerate the fracturing of authority in parliaments.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 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

I felt cold and dismayed: my worst fears then were probably true: he had in all probability left England and rushed in reckless desperation to some former haunt on the Continent.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë