Continuing

How to spell continuing

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce continuing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does continuing mean?

1. verbPresent participle of continue: going on with an action or process without stopping.
2. adjectiveOngoing; still happening or in effect over a period of time.

Continuing in a sentence

• verb

  She kept continuing the project despite the funding cuts.

• adjective

  Many nurses enrol in continuing education to renew their licences.

• verb

  The rain showed no sign of continuing into the evening.

• adjective

  The firm has a continuing obligation to file annual reports.

Where does continuing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows from the Latin verb continuare, meaning 'to join together' or 'to make unbroken', which itself was built on continuus, 'hanging together' or 'uninterrupted'. At the heart of it sits the verb tenere, meaning 'to hold', so something that continues is literally something held together without a break. English took the verb 'continue' from Old French continuer in the 1300s, and the form 'continuing' is simply the present participle, formed in the ordinary English way by adding -ing. The same tenere root holds together a whole family of relatives, including 'tenant', 'retain', and 'tenacious'. The spelling trap is the quiet middle: the -tinu- runs smoothly into -ing with a single n and no doubling, even though the spoken word can tempt writers to add extra letters.

How the word is built

• con- (together, thoroughly)
• tin (from Latin tenere: to hold)
• -u-
• -ing (present participle suffix)