Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or characteristic of a continent.
  • adjective Of or relating to the mainland of Europe; European.
  • adjective Of or relating to the American colonies during and immediately after the American Revolution.
  • adjective Used as an intensive.
  • noun An inhabitant of a continent.
  • noun An inhabitant of the mainland of Europe; a European.
  • noun A native of the continental United States living or working in Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands.
  • noun A soldier in the American army during the American Revolution.
  • noun A piece of paper money issued by the Continental Congress during the American Revolution.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Relating or pertaining to, or of the nature of, a continent; entitled to be considered a continent.
  • Characteristic of a continent: opposed to insular: as, a continental climate. See below.
  • Specifically, of or belonging to the continent, as distinguished from adjacent islands, and especially to the continent of Europe: as, the continental press; the continental Sunday.
  • Inclined to favor a strengthening of the general government and an increase of unity among the colonies.
  • noun A native or an inhabitant of a continent, specifically of the continent of Europe.
  • noun In American history, a soldier of the regular army of the revolted colonies in the war of independence.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to a continent.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to the main land of Europe, in distinction from the adjacent islands, especially England.
  • adjective (Amer. Hist.) Of or pertaining to the confederated colonies collectively, in the time of the Revolutionary War.
  • adjective See under Congress.
  • adjective (Hist.) the blockade of Great Britain ordered by Napoleon by the decree of Berlin, Nov. 21, 1806; the object being to strike a blow at the maritime and commercial supremacy of Great Britain, by cutting her off from all intercourse with the continent of Europe.
  • noun (Amer. Hist.) A soldier in the Continental army. See continental, a., 3.
  • noun (Amer. Hist.) a piece of the Continental currency, paper money issued under authority of the Continental Congress. See Continental, a., 3.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or relating to a continent or continents.
  • adjective In the main part of a country or region, as opposed to on one of its islands.
  • adjective Characteristic of the style of continental Europe, as opposed to British.
  • noun Someone from "the continent".
  • noun A member of the Continental army.
  • noun Paper scrip (paper money) issued by the continental congress, largely worthless by the end of the war (hence the expression "not worth a continental")

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to or concerning the American colonies during and immediately after the American Revolutionary War
  • adjective of or relating to or characteristic of a continent
  • adjective being or concerning or limited to a continent especially the continents of North America or Europe
  • adjective of or pertaining to or typical of Europe

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The difference between the ice streams of the mountains and those which we term continental depends solely on the areas of the fields and the depth of the accumulation.

    Outlines of the Earth's History A Popular Study in Physiography Nathaniel Southgate Shaler 1873

  • The term continental US also means the 48 contiguous states, although Alaska is geographically part of the continental US.

    Original Signal - Transmitting Digg 2008

  • I use "brunch" advisedly because it was really just doughnuts, bagels, and muffins -- what they call a continental breakfast in this country.

    Planning a Meal 2005

  • But also as president, he took the major steps that were necessary to create what he called a continental empire for liberty.

    CNN Transcript Jun 7, 2004 2004

  • Like the Columbia University group, the CFR task force insists that the largely negative images of Africa propagated in the US media obstruct what it describes as a continental "renaissance" which makes "the present era ... the most promising period since the onset of African independence 40 years ago."

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1997

  • Like the Columbia University group, the CFR task force insists that the largely negative images of Africa propagated in the US media obstruct what it describes as a continental "renaissance" which makes "the present era ... the most promising period since the onset of African independence 40 years ago."

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1997

  • It was this temporary feature which inspired Wegener to study what he defined as continental drift, although he did not live to see his hypothesis become generally accepted.

    Army Rumour Service 2009

  • It was this temporary feature which inspired Wegener to study what he defined as continental drift, although he did not live to see his hypothesis become generally accepted.

    Army Rumour Service 2009

  • It was this temporary feature which inspired Wegener to study what he defined as continental drift, although he did not live to see his hypothesis become generally accepted.

    Army Rumour Service 2009

  • It was this temporary feature which inspired Wegener to study what he defined as continental drift, although he did not live to see his hypothesis become generally accepted.

    Army Rumour Service 2009

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