USAGE In precise usage, continual means 'frequent, repeating at intervals' and continuous means 'going on without pause or interruption':: we suffered from the continual attacks of mosquitoes; | the waterfall’s continuous flow creates an endless roar. The most common error is the use of continuous where continual is meant: | continual (that is, 'intermittent') rain or tantrums can be tolerated; continuous (that is, 'uninterrupted') rain or tantrums cannot be tolerated. To prevent misunderstanding, some careful writers use | intermittent instead of continual, and | uninterrupted in place of continuous. Continuous is the word to use in describing spatial relationships, as in | a continuous series of rooms or | a continuous plain of arable land. Avoid using continuous or continuously as a way of describing something that occurs at regular or seasonal intervals: in the sentence, | our synagogue’s Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony has been held continuously since 1925, the word continuously should be replaced with annually.