Meaning & use
continent
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Meanings
nouncountable
One of the very large land masses of the world, such as Asia, Africa or South America.
Grammar: Countable: seven continents; use a capital letter only for a specific name, as in the African continent.
Patterns
- on the continent of something
- across the continent
Antarctica is the coldest continent on Earth.
She hopes to visit every continent before she turns forty.
The storm swept across the whole continent.
nounsingularBritishold-fashioned
In British English, the mainland of Europe, seen from the point of view of the British Isles.
Grammar: Written the Continent, with a capital C, and always with the.
Patterns
- on the Continent
- travel to the Continent
They spent the summer touring the Continent by train.
Prices on the Continent are often lower than in London.
adjectivenot comparablemedicalformal
Able to control the bladder and bowels.
Grammar: Used in medical or care contexts; the opposite is incontinent.
Patterns
- fully continent
Most children are continent during the day by the age of three.
After surgery, the patient became continent again within weeks.
Word forms
| plural | continents |
|---|
Common combinations
- the African continent
- The African continent has more than fifty countries.
- cross a continent
- They hope to cross the continent by bicycle.
- across the continent
- News of the discovery spread across the continent.
- the whole continent
- The heat wave affected the whole continent.
- on the Continent
- Her sister has lived on the Continent for years.
Synonyms and how they differ
- landmass
- Landmass is a general geography word for any large area of land, including ones that are not counted as continents.
- mainland
- Mainland refers to the main part of a country or region as opposed to nearby islands, not to the great divisions of the world.
Opposites
Word family
- continental adjective
- relating to a continent, or to mainland Europe
- intercontinental adjective
- between or across continents
- subcontinent noun
- a large part of a continent, such as India and its neighbors
- continence noun
- the ability to control the bladder and bowels
- incontinent adjective
- unable to control the bladder or bowels
Commonly confused: continent or country? continent or content?
continent vs country
A country is a nation with its own government, while a continent is a huge land mass holding many countries.
continent vs content
Content (stress on the second syllable) means satisfied and is a different word with a different sound.
Practice
Brazil is a ___ in South America.
Choose one answer.
Brazil is a nation, so country is correct. South America is the continent, so continent would be wrong here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “continent”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.