| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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3. Word Choice: New Uses, Common Confusion, and Constraints
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| § 74. continual / continuous |
| These adjectives are sometimes confused because their meanings overlap. Both words can be used to mean “continuing without interruption”: living in a continual state of fear, enjoying a continuous state of peace. But continual usually refers to something that recurs or is interrupted periodically: the continual pounding of the surf, the continual banging of the shutters in the wind. Only continuous is used to refer to physical continuation: The fans formed a continuous line around the field. | 1 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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