continental

• (continental Europe): Continental

From continent + -al.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑntɪˈnɛntl̩/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒntɪˈnɛntl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛntəl
• Hyphenation: con‧ti‧nent‧al

continental (comparative more continental, superlative most continental)

1. Of or relating to a continent or continents.

   continental drift

   • 2012, Chinle Miller, “The Tectonic Forces of the Mesozoic”, in In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition, page 34:

     Offshore to the west of the continental margin during the Early Triassic, the Sonoma highlands formed a volcanic island arc, separated from the mainland by a shallow sea that cut through western Nevada and northwestern Utah.

   • 1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

     No former king had involved himself so frequently in the labyrinth of continental alliances.

2. Of the mainland, as opposed to an island offshore.

   continental Europe

   • 1846 The Parliamentary gazetteer of Ireland (A. Fullarton, Dublin) Vol.1 p.x "Introduction; Extent" :

     The outline of continental Ireland is proximately that of a rhomboid ; and, in a general view, is greatly more continuous or less indented and undulated by cuts and sweeps of the sea than the outline of continental Great Britain.

3. Relating to, or characteristic of, continental Europe.

   continental breakfast

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     at Monte Carlo or some of the other Continental gambling-hells

4. (US, historical) Of or relating to the confederated colonies collectively, in the time of the Revolutionary War.

   continental money

• (in the main part of a country or region, as opposed to on one of its islands): mainland
• (characteristic of the style of continental Europe'): European

• (antonym(s) of “characteristic of the style of continental Europe”): British, English

• → Korean: 콘티넨털 (kontinenteol)

continental (plural continentals)

1. Someone from the continent.
   • 2012, Marjorie Senechal, I Died for Beauty: Dorothy Wrinch and the Cultures of Science:

     Reflecting on his long career chronicling scientists, J. G. Crowther wondered why it was that in the grand debates over the nature of light, x-rays, and cathode rays, the British opted for particles and the continentals for waves.

2. (US, historical) A member of the Continental army.
3. (US, historical) Paper scrip (paper money) issued by the continental congress, largely worthless by the end of the war.
4. (obsolete, by extension) The smallest amount; a whit; a jot.

   not worth a continental

   I don't care a continental!

From continent +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kun.ti.nənˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [kon.ti.nənˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [kon.ti.nenˈtal]

• Audio (Barcelona):

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continental m or f (masculine and feminine plural continentals)

1. continental

• intercontinental

• “continental”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “continental”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “continental” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “continental”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

From continent +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.ti.nɑ̃.tal/

• Audio:

  (file)

continental (feminine continentale, masculine plural continentaux, feminine plural continentales)

1. continental

   climat continental ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

• Chine continentale

• “continental”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

From continente +‎ -al.

continental m or f (plural continentais)

1. continental

• intercontinental

• “continental”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

continent +‎ -al

continental m (feminine singular continentala, masculine plural continentals, feminine plural continentalas)

1. continental

From continente +‎ -al.

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: con‧ti‧nen‧tal

continental m or f (plural continentais)

1. continental, relating to a continent and/or a mainland
2. (chiefly Azores, chiefly Madeira) from Continental Portugal

• continentalmente
• intercontinental

continental m or f by sense (plural continentais)

1. mainlander

• “continental”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “continental”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French continental. By surface analysis, continent +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /ˌkon.ti.nenˈtal/

continental m or n (feminine singular continentală, masculine plural continentali, feminine/neuter plural continentale)

1. continental

• continent

From continente +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /kontinenˈtal/ [kõn̪.t̪i.nẽn̪ˈt̪al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: con‧ti‧nen‧tal

continental m or f (masculine and feminine plural continentales)

1. continental

• “continental”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025