continually

adverb

con·​tin·​u·​al·​ly kən-ˈtin-yü-ə-lē 

-yə-lē

: in a continual manner : without stopping or interruption

a security system that runs continually

We had endured a series of dark, gloomy, winter days, during which the sun had been continually hidden behind dense, rain clouds.

—George Thatcher

… I was too thoroughly swept away by this richly imagined and continually surprising novel to be concerned with cute comparisons.

—Edan Lepucki

They bickered continually, ignoring me as I worked around them.

—Paula Fox

: in a constantly repeated manner : over and over

being interrupted continually

She would write. I would read and edit, and sometimes shift the wordings, or change phrases or delete things. We would continually refine what was written.

—Herbie Hancock

Synonyms of continually

• constantly
• often
• repeatedly
• frequently

Examples of continually in a Sentence

grew up in a time when children were continually being told to mind their manners

the computer program continually updates the file with new information

Recent Examples on the Web

When one team member continually disregards the person responsible for leading the team, everyone else is watching. — Laura Muirhead, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2026

But questions have continually circulated within the party about whether voters who are scarred from the party’s 2024 loss would be enthusiastic about a Harris run. — Justine McDaniel, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2026

Mercury's rough surface, continually reshaped by debris hurled from impact craters, may have hidden the true extent of the loss, according to the researchers whose findings appear in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. — Arkansas Online, 11 Sep. 2026

Stolen and enslaved Indigenous people formed new networks of kinship; learned new skills and languages; retained memories of family, kin, and rituals; and, through it all, continually plotted to return home. — Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English contynuely, from continuel continual + -ly -ly entry 2

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above