Contínuas

Contínuas is the feminine plural form of contínua, an adjective in Portuguese meaning “continuous” or “ongoing.” It describes something that lasts without interruptions or occurs in an unbroken sequence. The masculine singular form is contínuo, and the feminine singular is contínua. The accent on í marks the stressed syllable in standard orthography.

Usage of contínuas appears in various domains. In road traffic, linhas contínuas are solid lines that generally prohibit crossing or passing. In science, mathematics, and everyday language, variáveis contínuas refer to quantities that can take any value within an interval (for example, height or temperature), as opposed to discretas, which take only separate values. The expression uma tendência contínua or um processo contínuo conveys persistence or duration without breaks, while descrições de continuidade emphasize uninterrupted progression.

Etymology and related terms: contínua derives from Latin continuus, through Portuguese contínuo/contínua. Related nouns include continuidade, which denotes the state or quality of being continuous, and continuidade in contexts such as philosophy or physics. Contínuas, therefore, agrees in gender and number with feminine plural nouns (for example, linhas contínuas, medidas contínuas) and is part of standard Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese usage.

In summary, contínuas functions as the feminine plural adjective for “continuous,” used across contexts from everyday language to technical domains to express unbroken duration or uninterrupted characteristics.