CONTINUAL, CONTINUOUS, CONSTANT

CONTINUAL, CONTINUOUS, CONSTANT

You use continual, continuous, and constant to describe things which continue to happen or exist without stopping.

1. …the necessity for continual change by managers and workers alike.
2. The world that people thought to be stable was instead undergoing continuous dynamic change.
3. This would keep society in a condition of constant change.

If you are describing something undesirable which continues to happen or exist without stopping, it is better to use continual than continuous.

4. Continual police pressures were brought to bear against Card to get him to withdraw his statement.
5. Her continual demands on me were affecting my work.
6. It was sad to see her the victim of continual pain.
7. Her continual demands on me were affecting my work.
8. It was sad to see her the victim of continual pain.

Continual is also used to describe things which happen repeatedly.

9. Nino Valenti’s face was handsome though bloated by continual drinking.
10. The management refused to deal with him because of his continual disruptive activities.

You describe something as continuous when it happens all the time without any interruption at all, or seems to happen without any interruption.

11. After days of continuous rain in the area the Telle River was in flood.

12. The Kirks spent the summer in a state of continuous excitement. 13. When standing you sway slightly forwards and backwards continuously although you are unaware of it.

Note that continual is only used in front of a noun. Continuous can be used in front of a noun and a verb such as «be».

14. He gave continual thought to these two.
15. The landscape has undergone continuous transformations.
16. These recordings are in sequence and continuous.

You describe something constant when it happens all the time or is always there.

17. He was in constant pain.
18. He had to recognize the truth of Eva’s constant criticism that he wasn’t a man.