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Periodic vs Continual - What's the difference?

periodic | continual |

As a noun periodic

is newspaper.

As an adjective continual is

recurring in steady, rapid succession.

periodic

English

Alternative forms

* periodick (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) .

Adjective

(-)
  • Relative to a period or periods.
  • Having repeated cycles.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1899, author=(Stephen Crane)
  • , title=, chapter=1 , passage=There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fellers from the Upside-down-F ranch shot 'em up […].”}}
  • Occurring at regular intervals.
  • Periodical.
  • (label) Pertaining to the revolution of a celestial object in its orbit.
  • For which any return to it must occur in multiples of k time steps, for some k>1.
  • (label) Having a structure characterized by periodic sentences.
  • (label) Relating to, derived from, or designating, the highest oxygen acid (HIO) of iodine.
  • Antonyms
    * (astronomy) non-periodic * (mathematics) aperiodic
    Derived terms
    (terms derived from periodic) * periodic classification * periodic function * periodic law * periodic system * periodic table

    Etymology 2

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Of or derived from a periodic acid.
  • Derived terms
    * periodate * periodic acid English heteronyms ----

    continual

    English

    Alternative forms

    * continuall (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Recurring in steady, rapid succession.
  • (proscribed) Seemingly continuous; appearing to have no end or interruption.
  • (proscribed) Forming a continuous series.
  • Usage notes

    In careful usage, continual refers to repeated'' actions “continual objections”, while continuous refers to ''uninterrupted'' actions or objects “continuous flow”, “played music continuously from dusk to dawn”. However, this distinction is not observed in informal usage, a noted example being the magic spell name “continual light” (unbroken light), in the game ''.

    References

    Anagrams

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