DISCONTINUOUS


Meaning of DISCONTINUOUS in English

|dis+ adjective

Etymology: Medieval Latin discontinuus, from Latin dis- dis- (I) + continuus continuous — more at continuous

1. obsolete : causing discontinuity : gaping

with discontinuous wound — John Milton

2.

a. : not continuous : marked by breaks or gaps

a discontinuous mosaic of better watered and settled territory, embedded … in wide expanses of arid or semiarid land — Geographical Journal

the boy received a very jumbled and discontinuous schooling — Louis Kronenberger

: not continued : discrete , separate

here and there were conspicuous elevations … but they were discontinuous features, not useful as regional boundaries — R.H.Brown

: lacking logical or organic sequence or coherence

a series of discontinuous events

the tone poem is gay and always entertaining, but a trifle discontinuous

b. mathematics : having one or more discontinuities — used of a variable or a function

c. of a linguistic form : consisting of parts that are separated by other linguistic units of the same order or by parts of such units (as French ne … pas “not” in je ne sais pas “I do not know”)

discontinuous morphemes

discontinuous phonemes

• discontinuously adverb

• discontinuousness noun -es

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.