continue
Formscontinues, continuing, continued
Formscontinues, continuing, continued
Pluralcontinues
- 1To carry on with an activity already begun, or to extend how long it lasts.
The committee voted to continue the investigation into next year.
Despite the pouring rain, the band continued playing until well after midnight.
UsageTakes -ing or to + verb with little difference: continue reading, continue to read. Also continue with a task.
Oppositestop, discontinue, cease, halt
Note
The everyday sense, and the one that pushed out a native word: Latin continuāre came through Old French into Middle English as continuen, displacing thurghwonen (Old English þurhwunian). The infinitive carries a long-standing practice just as easily, as in Rudolf Schuster's "I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Continue derives through Middle English continuen and Old French from Latin continuāre, and displaced native thurghwonen, from Old English þurhwunian. en.wiktionary.org
- Rudolf Schuster wrote the quoted words; Wiktionary identifies the source as The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America, volume V, page vii. en.wiktionary.org
- 2To remain, or keep someone or something, in a particular state, place, position, or office.
They continue in good health despite their advanced age.
The council asked the mayor to continue in office until a successor could be chosen.
UsageUsually followed by in or as: continue in office, continue as captain.
Note
Here the verb means staying put, not carrying on. Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) has "here to continue," and the King James Bible of 1611 speaks of people who "continue with me now three days." The linking use, with an adjective placed directly after the verb, is now rare. The sense survives with a following in or with, as in Fielding's man who "still continued in the posture in which he fell."
- 3
Less common meanings
- 4In a video game, an option that lets the player resume play after game over (when all lives are gone) while keeping their progress.
Spending a continue let him pick up right where he had died.
Older arcade cabinets limited each player to a handful of continues.
UsagePlayers have, use or spend a continue, and can run out of continues.
Note
In arcades each continue usually cost more money, so the number on offer mattered. James A. Newman's Best Before (2012) contrasts a 1991 game's three lives with an iPod version that offers unlimited continues.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Arcade continuation generally required additional payment. en.wikipedia.org
- Best Before was written by James Newman and first published in 2012. openlibrary.org
- Newman contrasts three lives in the 1991 game with unlimited continues in its iPod version. en.wiktionary.org
- 5In law, to postpone or adjourn a legal proceeding to a later date.
Defense counsel moved to continue the trial until the spring session.
The court continued the matter pending further evidence.
UsageThe new date follows until or to: a hearing continued until May. The postponement is a continuance.
Similarpostpone, adjourn, defer, delay
Note
Courtroom usage turns the everyday meaning around: to continue a case is to stop it now and take it up later. Outside law, a reader can easily take a continued hearing to be one that kept going, when it was actually put off.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- In legal usage, continuing a proceeding can mean postponing it. santabarbara.courts.ca.gov
- 6In poker, to make a continuation bet: to keep betting on a later round after having led the betting on the previous one.
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Origin
Latin continuāre passed through Old French continuer into Middle English as continuen. It pushed out the native word thurghwonen, which Middle English had from Old English þurhwunian.