continental

See also: Continental

English

Alternative forms

• (continental Europe): Continental

Etymology

From continent ‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑntɪˈnɛntl̩/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒntɪˈnɛntl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛntəl
• Hyphenation: con‧ti‧nent‧al

Adjective

continental (comparative more continental, superlative most continental)

1. Of or relating to a continent or continents.

   continental drift

   • 2012, Chinle Miller, “The Tectonic Forces of the Mesozoic”, in In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition, page 34:

     Offshore to the west of the continental margin during the Early Triassic, the Sonoma highlands formed a volcanic island arc, separated from the mainland by a shallow sea that cut through western Nevada and northwestern Utah.

   • 1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

     No former king had involved himself so frequently in the labyrinth of continental alliances.

2. Of the mainland, as opposed to an island offshore.

   continental Europe

   • 1846 The Parliamentary gazetteer of Ireland (A. Fullarton, Dublin) Vol.1 p.x "Introduction; Extent" :

     The outline of continental Ireland is proximately that of a rhomboid ; and, in a general view, is greatly more continuous or less indented and undulated by cuts and sweeps of the sea than the outline of continental Great Britain.

3. Relating to, or characteristic of, continental Europe.

   continental breakfast

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     at Monte Carlo or some of the other Continental gambling-hells

4. (US, historical) Of or relating to the confederated colonies collectively, in the time of the Revolutionary War.

   continental money

Synonyms

• (in the main part of a country or region, as opposed to on one of its islands): mainland
• (characteristic of the style of continental Europe'): European

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “characteristic of the style of continental Europe”): British, English

Derived terms

• amphicontinental
• bicontinental
• continental breakfast
• continental crust
• continental divide
• Continental Divide (community)
• continental drift
• continental drip
• Continentaler
• continental Europe
• continental glacier
• continentalism
• continentalist
• continentality
• continentalization
• continentalize
• continentally
• continental philosophy
• continental plate
• continental quilt
• continental seating
• continental shelf
• continental shift
• continental slope
• continental time
• continental United States
• continental US
• epicontinental
• extracontinental
• hypercontinental
• intercontinental
• intracontinental
• microcontinental
• midcontinental
• multicontinental
• noncontinental
• palaeocontinental
• paleocontinental
• pancontinental
• pluricontinental
• pluricontinental
• semicontinental
• subcontinental
• supercontinental
• transcontinental
• trans-continental
• tricontinental
• uncontinental

 

Descendants

• → Korean: 콘티넨털 (kontinenteol)

Translations

of or relating to a continent or continents

• Arabic: قَارِّيّ (qārriyy)
• Belarusian: кантынента́льны (kantynjentálʹny), кантынэнта́льны (kantynentálʹny)
• Bulgarian: континентален (kontinentalen)
• Czech: kontinentální (cs), pevninský (cs)
• Finnish: manner-, mannermainen (fi)
• French: continental (fr)
• Galician: continental (gl)
• Georgian: კონტინენტური (ḳonṭinenṭuri)
• German: kontinental (de)
• Greek: ηπειρωτικός (el) (ipeirotikós)
• Hebrew: יבשתי (yabashty)
• Irish: mór-roinneach
• Italian: continentale (it)
• Kazakh: құрлықтық (qūrlyqtyq)
• Kumyk: континент (kontinent)
• Manx: mooarheeragh
• Occitan: continental (oc)
• Portuguese: continental (pt)
• Russian: континента́льный (ru) (kontinentálʹnyj)
• Spanish: continental (es)
• Swedish: kontinental (sv)
• Turkish: kıtasal
• Ukrainian: континента́льний (kontynentálʹnyj)
• Welsh: cyfandirol
• Yiddish: קאָנטינענטאַל (kontinental)

in the main part of a country or region, as opposed to on one of its islands

• Czech: kontinentální (cs), pevninský (cs)
• Finnish: manner-
• Greek: ηπειρωτικός (el) (ipeirotikós)
• Irish: mór-roinneach
• Manx: mooarheeragh
• Portuguese: continental (pt)
• Welsh: cyfandirol

characteristic of the style of continental Europe

• Bulgarian: европейски (bg) (evropejski)
• Czech: kontinentální (cs)
• Finnish: mannermainen (fi)
• Portuguese: continental (pt)
• Spanish: continental (es)
• Welsh: cyfandirol

Noun

continental (plural continentals)

1. Someone from the continent.
   • 2012, Marjorie Senechal, I Died for Beauty: Dorothy Wrinch and the Cultures of Science:

     Reflecting on his long career chronicling scientists, J. G. Crowther wondered why it was that in the grand debates over the nature of light, x-rays, and cathode rays, the British opted for particles and the continentals for waves.

2. (US, historical) A member of the Continental army.
3. (US, historical) Paper scrip (paper money) issued by the continental congress, largely worthless by the end of the war.
4. (obsolete, by extension) The smallest amount; a whit; a jot.

   not worth a continental

   I don't care a continental!

Catalan

Etymology

From continent ‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kun.ti.nənˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [kon.ti.nənˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [kon.ti.nenˈtal]

Adjective

continental m or f (masculine and feminine plural continentals)

1. continental

Derived terms

• intercontinental

Further reading

• “continental” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “continental”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “continental” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “continental” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From continent ‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

continental (feminine continentale, masculine plural continentaux, feminine plural continentales)

1. continental

Derived terms

• Chine continentale

Further reading

• “continental”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Galician

Etymology

From continente ‎ -al.

Adjective

continental m or f (plural continentais)

1. continental

Derived terms

• intercontinental

Further reading

• “continental”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2024

Occitan

Etymology

continent ‎ -al

Adjective

continental m (feminine singular continentala, masculine plural continentals, feminine plural continentalas)

1. continental

Portuguese

Etymology

From continente ‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kõ.t͡ʃi.nẽˈtaw/ [kõ.t͡ʃi.nẽˈtaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kõ.ti.nẽˈtal/ [kõ.ti.nẽˈtaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kõ.ti.nẽˈtal/ [kõ.ti.nẽˈtaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /kõ.ti.nẽˈta.li/

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: con‧ti‧nen‧tal

Adjective

continental m or f (plural continentais)

1. continental
2. (chiefly Azores, chiefly Madeira) Portuguese from the mainland

Derived terms

• continentalmente
• intercontinental

Noun

continental m or f by sense (plural continentais)

1. (chiefly Azores, chiefly Madeira) Portuguese from the mainland

Further reading

• “continental”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French continental. By surface analysis, continent ‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkon.ti.nenˈtal/

Adjective

continental m or n (feminine singular continentală, masculine plural continentali, feminine and neuter plural continentale)

1. continental

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	continental		continentală		continentali	continentale
	definite	continentalul		continentala		continentalii	continentalele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	continental		continentale		continentali	continentale
	definite	continentalului		continentalei		continentalelor	continentalilor

Related terms

• continent

Spanish

Etymology

From continente ‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kontinenˈtal/ [kõn̪.t̪i.nẽn̪ˈt̪al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: con‧ti‧nen‧tal

Adjective

continental m or f (masculine and feminine plural continentales)

1. continental

Derived terms

• continentalidad
• continentalmente
• deriva continental
• intercontinental
• plataforma continental

 

Further reading

• “continental”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28