CONTINENTAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Continental mean? 

• CONTINENTAL (adjective)
  The adjective CONTINENTAL has 4 senses:

1. of or pertaining to or typical of Europe

2. of or relating to or concerning the American colonies during and immediately after the American Revolutionary War

3. of or relating to or characteristic of a continent

4. being or concerning or limited to a continent especially the continents of North America or Europe

  Familiarity information: CONTINENTAL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONTINENTAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or pertaining to or typical of Europe

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

a Continental breakfast

Pertainym:

Continent (the European mainland)

Derivation:

Continent (the European mainland)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or relating to or concerning the American colonies during and immediately after the American Revolutionary War

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

the Continental Congress

Pertainym:

Colony (one of the 13 British colonies that formed the original states of the United States)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Of or relating to or characteristic of a continent

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

continental drift

Pertainym:

continent (one of the large landmasses of the earth)

Derivation:

continent (one of the large landmasses of the earth)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Being or concerning or limited to a continent especially the continents of North America or Europe

Context example:

continental waters

Similar:

continent-wide (involving the entire continent)

transcontinental (spanning or crossing or on the farther side of a continent)

Antonym:

intercontinental (extending or taking place between or among continents)

Derivation:

continent (one of the large landmasses of the earth)

 Context examples 

The team found millions of previously unknown DNA variations that are exclusive to one continental or major geographical region.

(Global human genome study reveals our complex evolutionary history, University of Cambridge)

Or, water cycling from continental rock could have reduced the percentage of heavy isotopes in ocean water.

(Scientists determine early Earth was a ‘water world’ by studying exposed ocean crust, National Science Foundation)

There, they metamorphose into transparent glass eels and migrate across the continental shelf to the coast.

(Study uncovers magnetic memory of European glass eels, National Science Foundation)

Continental warmth: South America had its second warmest year on record; Asia, its third; Africa, its fourth; Europe, its fifth; and North America and Oceania, their sixth.

(2017 was 3rd warmest year on record for the globe, NOAA)

Tectonic movements that relate to the continental land masses.

(Continental processes, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

Such deposits usually accumulate near the continental margin.

(Hemipelagic sediments, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

The Papillon, also called the Continental Toy Spaniel, has a long coat with a long, plumed tail which is carried curled over the back.

(Papillon, NCI Thesaurus)

A wind-deposited sediment consisting mostly of silt, the silt commonly derived from finely ground rock washed out of continental glaciers.

(Loess, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

Continental material transport within a matrix of ice and deposited in marine sediments when the ice matrix melts.

(Ice rafted detritus, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

The resulting debris is now scattered along a 3,000-mile-long trail, larger than the width of the continental U.S.

(Hubble Takes Close-up Look at Disintegrating Comet, NASA)