Dictionary

continuum en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /kənˈtɪnjuəm/
• (Southern-England) audio
• /-(j)ɪu̯əm/

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin continuum, neuter form of continuus, from contineō (“contain, enclose”).

Meanings

1. A continuous series or whole, no part of which is noticeably different from its adjacent parts, although the ends or extremes of it are very different from each other.
   • In fact, the influence of signage in a certain area may exist anywhere on a continuum from profoundly effective to utterly trivial or completely insignificant, irrespective of the intent motivating the signs. 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 11:
   • Near-synonym: spectrum
   • So, the white line implies Blacklessness and the black background implies Whitelessness – that is, once the white line, a continuum, has emerged from blackness, also a continuum, and the two continua engage in an “inter-penetrative” (Buddhist term) process. 2014, Torkild Thellefsen, Bent Sorensen, Charles Sanders Peirce in His Own Words:
2. A continuous extent.
   • A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place. 2012 March 14, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3:
3. The nondenumerable set of real numbers; more generally, any compact connected metric space.
4. A touch-sensitive strip, similar to an electronic standard musical keyboard, except that the note steps are ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a semitone, and so are not separately marked.

Forms

Deriveds

hypercontinuum · continuum mechanics · subcontinuum · quasicontinuum · generalized continuum hypothesis · discontinuum · continuum theory · language continuum · anticontinuum · continuumlike · post-creole continuum · dialect continuum · continuum hypothesis · supercontinuum

Relateds

continuous

Synonyms

spectrum · ℝ (set of real numbers)

Translations (51)

es contínuum (set of real numbers) · es continuum (set of real numbers) · el συνεχές (continuous series or whole) · fr continuum (continuous extent) · pl kontinuum (continuous series or whole) · fi kaikkien reaalilukujen joukko (set of real numbers) · cmn 連續統 /连续统 (set of real numbers) · es continuum (continuous series or whole) · ms kontinum (continuous extent) · de Kontinuum (set of real numbers) · ko 연속체 (set of real numbers) · cs kontinuum (continuous extent) · da kontinuum (continuous series or whole) · pt continuum (continuous series or whole) · sv kontinuum (set of real numbers) · fi lukusuora (set of real numbers) · es contínuum (continuous series or whole) · pt série (continuous extent) · cmn 連續體 /连续体 (continuous series or whole) · fi jatkumo (continuous extent) · sv kontinuum (continuous extent) · ja 連続体 (continuous series or whole) · ru конти́нуум (continuous extent) · fi jatkumo (continuous series or whole) · el συνεχές (continuous extent) · es continuo (set of real numbers) · hy կոնտինուում (continuous extent) · he רצף (continuous extent) · fi kontinuumi (set of real numbers) · de Kontinuum (continuous extent) · kk үздіксіздік (continuous extent) · kk тұтас орта (continuous series or whole) · ja 連続体 (set of real numbers) · ru конти́нуум (set of real numbers) · he רצף (set of real numbers) · es bajo continuo (music: touch-sensitive strip) · fr continuum (continuous series or whole) · he רצף (continuous series or whole) · fi continuum (music: touch-sensitive strip) · fi jatkumo (set of real numbers) · it continuo (continuous extent) · jam kantiniuom (continuous extent) · yue 連續體 /连续体 (continuous series or whole) · it continuo (set of real numbers) · es continuo (continuous extent) · cmn 閉聯集 /闭联集 (set of real numbers) · es contínuum (continuous extent) · kk континуум (set of real numbers) · es continuo (continuous series or whole) · nl continuüm (continuous extent) · es continuum (continuous extent)