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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

continent.

One of the main contiguous landmasses, separated by water or geological features, on the surface of a planet, sometimes including its continental shelves and the islands on them.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈkɒntɪnənt/UK/ˈkɑntɪnənt/General-American/ˈkɑnt(ə)nənt/General-American
  1. One of the main contiguous landmasses, separated by water or geological features, on the surface of a planet, sometimes including its continental shelves and the islands on them.

  2. Each of the traditional main regions into which the Earth’s land surface is divided, including both an extent of mainland and various conventionally associated islands, etc; namely, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australasia/Oceania, North America, South America, and Antarctica.

  3. A large contiguous landmass as opposed to its islands, peninsulas, and so forth; mainland. Also specifically, the Old World continent of Europe–Asia–Africa: see the Continent.

    broadly · obsolete
  4. A large connected expanse of something in general.

    figuratively
  5. Any continuous tract or area of land; country, connected region.

    obsolete
  6. Land (as opposed to the water), dry land.

    obsolete
  7. The body or mass of a celestial body such as the sun or moon.

    obsolete
  8. Container, vessel, something that holds or contains something else.

    obsolete
  9. Space, capacity.

    obsolete
  10. The principal or essential points of something viewed collectively: sum, summary, substance.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Latin continens, noun use of present participle of continēre (“to contain”).

adj/ˈkɒntɪnənt/UK/ˈkɑntɪnənt/General-American/ˈkɑnt(ə)nənt/General-American
  1. Exercising self-restraint; controlled, temperate with respect to one’s bodily needs or passions, especially sex.

  2. Having voluntary control over one’s urination or defecation.

  3. Not interrupted; connected; continuous, whether in time or space.

    obsolete
    a continent fever
  4. Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing.

    obsolete
  5. Containing or capable of containing.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English contynent, from Old French continent, from Latin continentem (“continuous; holding together”), present participle of continēre (“to contain”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.