as in mainlands
one of the great divisions of land on the globe or the main part of such a division
Europe and Asia are sometimes considered together to be one continent
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Recent Examples of continents
Over the past two centuries, soccer – or football, as it is called in much of the English-speaking world – has become a truly global phenomenon that connects fans on all continents.
—
Thomas Adam, The Conversation, 29 May 2026
The trend spans continents and price points — from a two-hour perfume class near Paris’s Île Saint-Louis to a week of felting on a remote Finnish estate.
—Hanna Wickes, Sacbee.com, 29 May 2026
Models suggest Pacific Ocean surface temperatures could climb to a peak anomaly of 3°C above average by late 2026, a threshold reached only once in recorded history, during the catastrophic 1877–78 event that triggered deadly famines across three continents.
—Dr. Douglas M. Hasson, Hartford Courant, 28 May 2026
As imperial forces traversed continents, the meanings and uses of these arrivals—whether people, plants, or ideologies— were actively negotiated and reshaped by the societies and environments compelled to contend with them.
—Sophia Rey, JSTOR Daily, 28 May 2026
The show — which features choreography by Jennifer Weber — has played in nine countries across four continents since debuting in London's West End in 2019.
—Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 28 May 2026
Sure, the German brand’s reputation is decades-long and the styles are equally popular across all continents, but the momentum keeps going.
—Eva Thomas, InStyle, 28 May 2026
Prime Intellect trained a 10 billion parameter model across five countries on three continents using a variant of this approach.
—Jemma Green, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
Its empire later spanned four continents.
—ABC News, 27 May 2026
Thomas Adam, The Conversation, 29 May 2026
The trend spans continents and price points — from a two-hour perfume class near Paris’s Île Saint-Louis to a week of felting on a remote Finnish estate.
—Hanna Wickes, Sacbee.com, 29 May 2026
Models suggest Pacific Ocean surface temperatures could climb to a peak anomaly of 3°C above average by late 2026, a threshold reached only once in recorded history, during the catastrophic 1877–78 event that triggered deadly famines across three continents.
—Dr. Douglas M. Hasson, Hartford Courant, 28 May 2026
As imperial forces traversed continents, the meanings and uses of these arrivals—whether people, plants, or ideologies— were actively negotiated and reshaped by the societies and environments compelled to contend with them.
—Sophia Rey, JSTOR Daily, 28 May 2026
The show — which features choreography by Jennifer Weber — has played in nine countries across four continents since debuting in London's West End in 2019.
—Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 28 May 2026
Sure, the German brand’s reputation is decades-long and the styles are equally popular across all continents, but the momentum keeps going.
—Eva Thomas, InStyle, 28 May 2026
Prime Intellect trained a 10 billion parameter model across five countries on three continents using a variant of this approach.
—Jemma Green, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
Its empire later spanned four continents.
—ABC News, 27 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for continents
Noun
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The two mainlands themselves are only 55 miles apart where Alaska's Seward Peninsula and Russia's Chukotka Peninsula sit on opposite sides of the Bering Sea.—
Trevor Hughes,
USA Today,
15 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
This is a recognizably topological result — the size of each of the city’s landmasses doesn’t matter, nor does the length of the bridges between them.—
Konstantin Kakaes,
Quanta Magazine,
20 May 2026
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Planet operates a fleet of around 150 satellites that photograph most of Earth's landmasses on a daily basis.—
Geoff Brumfiel,
NPR,
10 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Continents.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/continents. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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