continuum
Americannoun
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a continuous extent, series, or whole.
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Mathematics.
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a set of elements such that between any two of them there is a third element.
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the set of all real numbers.
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any compact, connected set containing at least two elements.
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noun
Etymology
Origin of continuum
1640–50; < Latin, noun use of neuter of continuus continuous
Explanation
A continuum is something that keeps on going, changing slowly over time, like the continuum of the four seasons. In addition to meaning "a whole made up of many parts," continuum, pronounced "kon-TIN-yoo-um," can describe a range that is always present. For example, in a high school, at any time, there are students who are learning algebra, then advancing to geometry, trigonometry, and calculus. Just as the ninth graders master their particular math, they move on to the next one, as new ninth graders enter the school and the seniors graduate.
Vocabulary lists containing continuum
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Brown Girl Dreaming
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A Mango-Shaped Space
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Tamil Nadu has long been attuned to political theatrics, where cinema and power often blur into one continuum.
From BBC • May 5, 2026
When cooled to near absolute zero, the material can settle into any one of these configurations, producing a range of observed states that resemble the continuum seen in quantum spin liquids.
From Science Daily • Apr. 22, 2026
You go this way rather than that without really knowing why, where you’ll end up next or where you are in the larger continuum.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
Pangram’s latest version now outputs scores on a continuum and is making genuine progress on these gray-zone instances, but those cases remain far less validated than the extremes.
From Slate • Apr. 17, 2026
By Loeb’s reckoning, Livingston was a personality type destined to occupy an uneasy limbo within this continuum.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
