Continuum: meaning, example and synonyms
Continuumn. A continuous series whose parts shade gradually into one another without sharp breaks.
Example
Rather than sorting languages into dialects and separate tongues, the linguist described a continuum in which neighboring villages understood one another easily.
- Part of speech
- noun
- Synonyms
- spectrum, range, gradation, progression
- Antonyms
- discontinuity, dichotomy, sharp divide
- Memory tip
- Continuum is CONTINUous: no gaps, just a smooth slide from end to end.
Continuum is in batch 15. Study it with the rest of the batch, then pass the batch quiz to learn it. No account needed; progress is saved on this device.
Check yourself: Continuum in context
Most psychologists now view anxiety as a point on the ______ running from mild everyday worry to severe disorder, rather than as a condition a person either has or lacks.
Answer: continuum. A range running gradually from mild to severe, not either/or, is a continuum. Deference (respectful yielding), antithesis (a direct opposite) and homogeneity (uniformity) don't fit this context.
Visible light occupies only a narrow band of the electromagnetic ______, which stretches without interruption from long radio waves to extremely short gamma rays.
Answer: continuum. A range stretching without interruption from one extreme to another is a continuum. Deference (respectful yielding), homogeneity (uniformity) and disparity (a great inequality) don't fit this context.