Continually vs. continuously

[GrandLizard]

As of late I've been pondering whether continually/continuously can be used interchangeably and/or whether there exists some kind of semantic demarcation line. I trust you may have some thoughts regarding the issue. Thank you

Dennis

 

[Rover_KE]

What have you discovered already from dictionaries in OneLook.com?

 

[GrandLizard]

Very generally speaking, continuously ≈ something that happens uninterrupted, at regular intervals, as I understand, and continually ≈ something that happens at more or less regular intervals, yet occasionally facing obstacles? I'm in the dark, you see, hence I created this thread

 

[jutfrank]

continuous = happening uninterrupted

continual = happening again and again

 

[GrandLizard]

Now I seem to have grasped the idea. Continually ≈ something of a recurrent action

 

[jutfrank]

This is how I see the difference:

continual relates only to actions and events. Something happens again and again. The focus is on the repeated pattern of events.

continuous relates to time. A continuous period of time is not broken up. The sense of a 'continuous action/state' is one that does not start and stop within a specified time frame. In other words, the time frame within which an action happens is not seen as unbroken. The focus is really on the time frame rather than the action.

I've been working here continuously for seven years.

This means that I've had no breaks from work in the last seven years. You can't use continually in this sentence.