discontinuous
/dɪskənˈtɪnjʊəs
/adjective
Having intervals or gaps: a person with a discontinuous employment record...
- Unfortunately, subaerial erosion has made the continental sedimentary record very incomplete and discontinuous.
- The hanging-wall zone contained 33% of the copper and was the most erratic and discontinuous zone.
- However, the prospects for discontinuous, disruptive change appear slim.
Synonyms
intermittent, sporadic, broken, fitful, interrupted, on and off, disrupted, erratic, disconnected
Derivatives
discontinuously
/ adverb ...- Its findings suggest, however, that without major acquisitions, the likelihood of moving instantaneously and discontinuously from one period's opportunity frontier to that of another is low.
- We don't say there's a missing link in a cliff, because the height changes discontinuously along the ground, that's just how landscape works.
- Clearly this coarse-grained level of model cannot pick up specific and discontinuously large shifts of the transition state, which in small proteins will often dominate particular cases.
Origin
Mid 17th century (in the sense 'producing discontinuity'): from medieval Latin discontinuus, from dis- 'not' + continuus (see continuous).