as in sporadic
lacking in steadiness or regularity of occurrence
the novel captures the discontinuous nature of a soldier's life: long stretches of boredom interrupted by flashes of action
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Recent Examples of discontinuous
Black artists, of course, experienced those changes and more, which is reflected in work featuring broken narratives, discontinuous lives, and a ceaseless groping for novel visual vocabularies.
—
Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 23 Feb. 2024
Ignoring this would mean disregarding the essential governance and coordination elements of industrial policy and characterizing this approach as being discontinuous with what’s already happening on the ground.
—TIME, 16 Oct. 2023
In the current conflict, Hamas attacked Israel with much greater sophistication and scale than ever before—a massive, discontinuous change.
—Amy Zegart, Foreign Affairs, 11 Oct. 2023
Abstract: Tasks involving locally unstable or discontinuous dynamics (such as bifurcations and collisions) remain challenging in robotics, because small variations in the environment can have a significant impact on task outcomes.
—Evan Ackerman, IEEE Spectrum, 2 June 2023
See All Example Sentences for discontinuous
Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 23 Feb. 2024
Ignoring this would mean disregarding the essential governance and coordination elements of industrial policy and characterizing this approach as being discontinuous with what’s already happening on the ground.
—TIME, 16 Oct. 2023
In the current conflict, Hamas attacked Israel with much greater sophistication and scale than ever before—a massive, discontinuous change.
—Amy Zegart, Foreign Affairs, 11 Oct. 2023
Abstract: Tasks involving locally unstable or discontinuous dynamics (such as bifurcations and collisions) remain challenging in robotics, because small variations in the environment can have a significant impact on task outcomes.
—Evan Ackerman, IEEE Spectrum, 2 June 2023
See All Example Sentences for discontinuous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for discontinuous
Adjective
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During her active years with WWE, which spanned from 2006 to her initial departure in 2012 and included subsequent sporadic returns for special appearances, Kelly Kelly achieved a significant milestone by capturing the WWE Divas Championship.—
Gordon G. Chang,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Apr. 2025
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These societies could survive without the sporadic acquisition of meat, anthropologists note.—
Amanda Ruggeri,
Time,
7 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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During intermittent periods for minutes at a time, the NYPD and MTAPD strategically closed certain doors temporarily out of the hundreds of doors throughout the terminal to prevent additional demonstrators from entering.—
Rachel Wolf,
FOXNews.com,
9 Apr. 2025
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Invisible geckos belt out intermittent clicks from the foliage, as brown pelicans sweep lazily across the sky, patrolling the shoreline for their daily fill.—
Ashlee Marie Preston,
Forbes.com,
8 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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The show is thrilling as a sensory experience, humming with sinister percussive beats and the occasional muffled animal squawk in the distance.—
Sophie Gilbert,
The Atlantic,
5 Apr. 2025
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Initially, MacGregor's character was supposed to make only occasional appearances, but she was promoted to series regular after her performance was so well-received.—
Alexandra Schonfeld,
People.com,
5 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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The fraught legal battle is also taking place amid a sudden round of visa revocations among international students at some of the country’s top universities, with college officials left unprepared and searching for answers from the government.—
Karina Tsui,
CNN Money,
7 Apr. 2025
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Don’t be surprised if your insights come through unconventional means — like a sudden dream, a deep gut feeling or even a meaningful synchronicity that guides you toward a new direction.—
Valerie Mesa,
People.com,
7 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Discontinuous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/discontinuous. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
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