Continue

Pronunciation

• enPR: kÉ™n-tÄ­nʹyoÍžo, IPA: /kÉ™nˈtɪnjuː/

Origin

From Middle French continuer, from Latin continuare.

Full definition of continue

Verb

1. (transitive) to proceed with (doing an activity); to prolong (an activity).Shall I continue speaking, or will you just interrupt me again?Do you want me to continue to unload these?
• 2012, April 15, Phil McNulty, Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea, Fuelled by their fury, Spurs surged forward and gave themselves hope after 56 minutes when Scott Parker's precise through-ball released Adebayor. He was pulled down in the area by Cech but referee Atkinson allowed play to continue for Bale to roll the ball into an empty net.
• Schuster Hepaticae V|viiFirstly, I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material, rather than on herbarium plants.
2. (transitive) To make last; to prolong.
• 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York 2001, p. 74:Can you account him wise or discreet that would willingly have his health, and yet will do nothing that should procure or continue it?
3. (transitive) To retain (someone) in a given state, position etc.
• 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 257:The schools were very much the brainchild of Bertin, and although the latter was ousted from the post of Controller-General by Choiseul in 1763, he was continued by the king as a fifth secretary of state ....
4. (intransitive) To remain in a given place or condition; to remain in connection with; to abide; to stay.
• MiltonHere to continue, and build up here
  A growing empire.
• Bible, Matthew xv. 32They continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat.
5. (intransitive) to resumeWhen will the concert continue?
6. (transitive, legal) To adjourn, prorogue, put off.This meeting has been continued to the thirteenth of July.
7. (poker slang) To make a continuation bet.

Usage notes

In the transitive sense, continue may be followed by either the present participle or the infinitive; hence use either "to continue writing" or "to continue to write".

As continue conveys the sense of progression, it is pleonastic to follow it with "on" (as in "Continue on with what you were doing").

Synonyms

• (transitive, proceed with, to prolong) carry on, go on with, keep, keep on, proceed with
• (intransitive, resume) carry on, go on, proceed, resume

Antonyms

• (transitive, proceed with, to prolong) terminate, conclude

Related terms

• continuation
• continuity
• continual
• continually
• continuedly
• continuous
• continuously
• continuum

Noun

1. (video games) an option allowing a gamer to resume play after game over, when all life have been lost.
2. (video games) an option allowing a player to resume a saved game.
3. (programming) a statement which causes a loop to start executing the next iteration, skipping the statements following it

Coordinate terms

• (statement which causes a loop to execute the next iteration) break