continent

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒntɪnənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑntɪnənt/, [ˈkʰɑnʔɪnənt]

• Audio (US)

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Borrowed from Latin continēntem, noun use of present participle of continēre (“to contain”).

continent (plural continents)

1. Each of the main continuous land-masses on the earth's surface, now generally regarded as seven in number, including their related islands, continental shelves etc.
   • 1624, John Donne, “17. Meditation”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: Printed by A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, OCLC 55189476, lines 2–3; republished as Geoffrey Keynes, John Sparrow, editor, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions: […], Cambridge: At the University Press, 1923, OCLC 459265555, page 98:

     No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; […]

2. (obsolete in general sense) A large contiguous landmass considered independent of its islands, peninsulas etc. Specifically, the Old World continent of Europe–Asia–Africa. See the Continent.
3. (obsolete) Land (as opposed to the water).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.v:

     The carkas with the streame was carried downe, / But th'head fell backeward on the continent.

• Africa
• America
• Antarctica
• Asia
• Australia
• Europe
• Eurasia
• Gondwana
• Laurasia
• North America
• Oceania
• Pangaea
• South America

• the Continent
• continental
• supercontinent

• (continents) continent; Africa, America, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America ^{(Category: en:Continents)}

Borrowed from Old French continent, from Latin continentem (“continuous; holding together”), present participle of continēre (“to contain”).

continent (comparative more continent, superlative most continent)

1. Exercising self-restraint; controlled, temperate with respect to one's bodily needs or passions, especially sex, urination and/or defecation.
   • Shakespeare

     Have a continent forbearance till the speed of his rage goes slower.

   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 119:

     A celibate himself, he was of the opinion that marriage was something of a concession to human frailty, to save from fornication those who could not be continent, so it was better to marry than to burn with lust.

2. Not interrupted; connected; continuous.

   a continent fever

   • Berrewood

     The northeast part of Asia is, if not continent with the west side of America, yet certainly it is the least disjoined by sea of all that coast.

3. (obsolete) Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing.

   Which is not tomb enough and continent/To hide the slain? (Shakespeare: Hamlet, 4.4.)

• incontinent

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /kon.tiˈnent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /kun.tiˈnen/

continent m (plural continents)

1. continent

• (continents) continent; Àfrica,‎ Amèrica,‎ Antàrtida,‎ Àsia,‎ Oceania,‎ Europa/‎Nord-amèrica,‎ Amèrica del Nord/‎Sud-amèrica,‎ Amèrica del Sud ^{(Category: ca:Continents) [edit]}

• Rhymes: -ɛnt

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continent n (plural continenten)

1. continent

• werelddeel

Borrowed from Latin continens, continentem.

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.ti.nɑ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

continent m (plural continents)

1. continent

• continental
• sous-continent

• contenir

• “continent” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

continent

1. third-person plural present active indicative of contineō

continent m (feminine singular continente, masculine plural continens, feminine plural continentes)

1. continent (exercising restraint)

• incontinent

Borrowed from Latin continens and/or from French continent.

continent n (plural continente)

1. continent

• continental
• conține