Discontinue
verbTo stop doing, providing, or producing something on an ongoing basis.
How to spell discontinue
11 letters · 4 syllables
How to pronounce discontinue
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does discontinue mean?
- verbTo stop doing, providing, or producing something on an ongoing basis.
Discontinue in a sentence
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The manufacturer plans to discontinue that model next year.
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Patients should not discontinue the medication without medical advice.
Where does discontinue come from?
Language of origin: French
This word entered English in the late 1400s from the Old French discontinuer, which in turn came from the Medieval Latin discontinuare, meaning 'to cease' or 'to break off'. The base, continuare, literally meant 'to join together' or 'to make unbroken', built on continuus 'uninterrupted', from continere 'to hold together'. The prefix dis- carries the sense of reversal or negation, so the whole word means to undo a continuous thing, that is, to stop carrying it on. The same continu- root sits inside the everyday words 'continue', 'continual', and 'continuous', and remembering that family helps fix the spelling: discontinue is simply dis- placed in front of the familiar 'continue', with no letters added or dropped.
How the word is built
- dis- (not, reverse)
- continue (from Latin continuare: to join together, carry on)
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