Meaning | One of the large landmasses of the earth. |
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Examples | - "there are seven continents"
- "pioneers had to cross the continent on foot"
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Instances | Africa | The second largest continent |
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Antarctica, Antarctic continent | An extremely cold continent at the south pole almost entirely below the Antarctic Circle |
Asia | The largest continent with 60% of the earth's population |
Australia | The smallest continent |
Eurasia | The land mass formed by the continents of Europe and Asia |
Europe | The 2nd smallest continent (actually a vast peninsula of Eurasia) |
Gondwanaland | A hypothetical continent that (according to plate tectonic theory) broke up later into India and Australia and Africa and South America and Antarctica |
Laurasia | A hypothetical continent that (according to plate tectonic theory) broke up later into North America and Europe and Asia |
North America | A continent (the third largest) in the western hemisphere connected to South America by the Isthmus of Panama |
Pangaea, Pangea | (plate tectonics) a hypothetical continent including all the landmass of the earth prior to the Triassic period when it split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland |
South America | A continent in the western hemisphere connected to North America by the Isthmus of Panama |
Parts | craton | The part of a continent that is stable and forms the central mass of the continent |
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subcontinent | A large and distinctive landmass (as India or Greenland) that is a distinct part of some continent |
Broader | landmass, land mass | A large continuous extent of land |
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Spanish | continente |
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Catalan | continent |
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Adjectives | continental | being or concerning or limited to a continent especially the continents of North America or Europe |
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continental | of or relating to or characteristic of a continent |