continue

Continue is a verb that denotes persisting in an activity after an interruption, resuming after a pause, or extending something that is already underway. It is used in everyday language to describe actions, processes, or narratives that proceed without stopping. The related noun form is continuation.

Etymology traces continue to Latin continuare, from continuus meaning unbroken. The word entered English in the Middle English period and has retained a sense of unbroken progression across its uses in speech and writing.

In common usage, continue can describe ongoing efforts, the progression of events, or the persistence of conditions. Collocations include continue doing something, continue with something, and continue on. Examples include: “The meeting will continue after lunch,” “Please continue reading,” and “They decided to continue their journey.”

In programming, continue is a control flow statement inside loops that skips the remaining statements of the current iteration and begins the next iteration. In most languages, it affects only the innermost loop. It contrasts with break, which terminates the loop entirely. Some languages support variations, such as labeled continues in Java, which can apply to outer loops. The continue action allows programs to ignore certain iterations when a condition is met, aiding flow control and efficiency.

Outside language use, continue often appears in discussions of durability, process, or policy, signaling that a project or condition should carry on without interruption.