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Constancy vs Continuous - What's the difference?

constancy | continuous |

As a noun constancy

is (uncountable) the quality of being constant; steadiness or faithfulness in action, affections, purpose, etc.

As an adjective continuous is

without break, cessation, or interruption; without intervening time.

constancy

English

Noun

(constancies)
  • (uncountable) The quality of being constant; steadiness or faithfulness in action, affections, purpose, etc.
  • * 1871 , , Descent of Man , ch. 7 "On the Races of Man,"
    • Constancy of character is what is chiefly valued and sought for by naturalists.
  • (countable) An unchanging quality or characteristic of a person or thing.
  • * 1602 , , All's Well That Ends Well , act 1, sc. 2,
    • younger spirits . . .
    whose constancies
    Expire before their fashions.

    Related terms

    * constant * constantly

    References

    * * * * Oxford English Dictionary , 2nd ed., 1989. * Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary , 1987-1996.

    continuous

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Without break, cessation, or interruption; without intervening time.
    • a continuous current of electricity
  • * 1847 , , Ticknor and Fields (1854), page 90:
    • he can hear its continuous murmur
  • Without intervening space; continued; protracted; extended.
    • a continuous line of railroad
  • (botany) Not deviating or varying from uniformity; not interrupted; not joined or articulated.
  • (analysis, of a function) Such that, for every x'' in the domain, for each small open interval ''D'' about ''f''(''x''), there's an interval containing ''x'' whose image is in ''D .
  • (mathematics, more generally, of a function) Such that each open set in the range has an open preimage.
    • Each continuous function from the real line to the rationals is constant, since the rationals are totally disconnected.
  • (grammar) Expressing an ongoing action or state.

    • Usage notes

    *

    Synonyms

    * (without break, cessation, or interruption in time''): constant, continual (''but see usage notes above ), incessant, never-ending, ongoing, unbroken, unceasing, unending, uninterrupted * (without break, cessation, or interruption in space ): connected, unbroken * See also

    Antonyms

    * (without break, cessation, or interruption in time ): broken, discontinuous, discrete, intermittent, interrupted * (without break, cessation, or interruption in space ): broken, disconnected, disjoint, unbroken * (in mathematical analysis ): discontinuous, stepwise

    Derived terms

    * continuous brake * continuous impost * continuously * continuousness (in mathematics) * continuous distribution * continuous function * continuous group * continuous line illusion * continuous map * continuous mapping theorem * continuous space * continuous vector bundle * continuously differentiable function * uniformly continuous

    Related terms

    * continuity * continued * continuum

    See also

    * constant * contiguous

    References