continuing

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of continue.

   Continuing down the trail, the hikers reached the summit by noon.

   The committee is continuing its review of the proposal next week.

   Note

   One spelling does several grammatical jobs. After be it builds the progressive (is continuing its review), and it can head a clause of ongoing motion (continuing down the trail). Before a noun it behaves almost like an adjective, as in Leo Hickman's "continuing revelations" in The Guardian Weekly (2013). Because continue can also mean to adjourn or put off, continuing a meeting may mean postponing it rather than carrying it on.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act or fact of going on; a continuation of something already begun.

   The continuing of the old festival depended on a handful of dedicated volunteers.

   She argued that the continuing of the program was vital to the community.

   Similarcontinuation, continuance, maintenance, survival

   Oppositediscontinuation, cessation, termination, end

   Note

   A true noun that shares its spelling with the verb's gerund. It takes the and of, and it has a plural, continuings, which no gerund can take. The article is the quick test. In "continuing the program" the verb is at work. In "the continuing of the program" the noun is, and it means much the same as continuation.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2