continuum

noun

con·​tin·​u·​um kən-ˈtin-yü-əm 

plural continua kən-ˈtin-yü-ə  also continuums

1

: a coherent whole characterized as a collection, sequence, or progression of values or elements varying by minute degrees

"good" and "bad" … stand at opposite ends of a continuum instead of describing the two halves of a line

—Wayne Shumaker

2

: the set of real numbers including both the rationals and the irrationals

broadly : a compact set which cannot be separated into two sets neither of which contains a limit point of the other

Examples of continuum in a Sentence

His motives for volunteering lie somewhere on the continuum between charitable and self-serving.

a continuum of temperatures ranging from very cold to very hot

Recent Examples on the Web

Netanyahu is a corrupt thug, but his violent offenses against the Palestinians are on a continuum with those of his more left-leaning predecessors from Israel’s founding generation. —David Klion, The New Republic, 1 Sep. 2023

That’s just not how his brain works underneath that shock of gravity-defying gray hair: Bianco sees himself as part of a long continuum of pizzamakers in America, beginning in the late 1800s with Italian immigrants who brought their cooking traditions with them. —Tim Carman, Washington Post, 31 Aug. 2023

For a growing number of students, education now exists somewhere on a continuum between school and home, in person and online, professional and amateur. —Laura Meckler, Anchorage Daily News, 18 Aug. 2023

The proposal aims to create a continuum of services for people in need of recovery from addiction, homelessness, or mental health problems, Koenig added. —Danny McDonald, BostonGlobe.com, 21 June 2023

Unfortunately, for patients, cancer care is a continuum of multiple phases — prevention, screening, detection, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and end-of-life care. —Samyukta Mullangi and Vinayak Venkataraman, STAT, 31 May 2023

So there’s kind of a continuum of privacy from the least disturbance to the most disturbance. —Adam Tschorn, Los Angeles Times, 11 July 2023

Throughout the set, Beyoncé wove interpolations of her predecessors’ songs throughout her own, as if to place her music in a larger continuum. —Lindsay Zoladz, New York Times, 9 July 2023

Yaakov Fein discovers that the past and the present are not two separate entities but a continuum of events and emotions. —Elena Lappin, Washington Post, 6 July 2023

See More

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Medieval Latin, noun derivative from neuter of Latin continuus continuous

First Known Use

1646, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

continuum

noun

con·​tin·​u·​um kən-ˈtin-yə-wəm 

plural continuua

-yə-wə

also continuums

: something that is continuous and the same throughout and that is often thought of as a series of elements or values which differ by only tiny amounts

"light" and "dark" stand at opposite ends of a continuum