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hossman's avatar

What is the difference between "continual" and "continuous"?

Asked by hossman (3291points) November 19th, 2006
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3 Answers

bob's avatar
from Garner's Modern American Usage: continual = frequently recurring; intermittent. Continuous = occurring without interruption; unceasing. So if you wake me up with an air horn every morning, that's a continual annoyance. If you kept an air horn going off near my head 24 hours a day for a solid week, that would be a continuous annoyance.
bob (3223points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…
bob's avatar
I should note that the air horn example did not come from Garner.
bob (3223points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
Modern_Classic's avatar
viz: contiguous.
Modern_Classic (588points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…

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