Meanings
plural continuous tenses
- grammarA verb tense expressing ongoing action; in English, any of the tenses formed with the present participle, namely present continuous ("I am dreaming"), past continuous ("I was dreaming"), present perfect continuous ("I have been dreaming"), past perfect continuous ("I had been dreaming"), future continuous ("I will be dreaming") or future perfect continuous ("I will have been dreaming").
Traditional grammar places great stress on [...] tenses of verbs and tense-equivalents, including the complications of the continuous tenses (he is writing the book all over again)[.]
1985, Robert Burchfield, The English Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 152Synonyms: progressive tense
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA verb tense expressing ongoing action; in English, any of the tenses formed with the present participle, namely present continuous ("I am dreaming"), past continuous ("I was dreaming"), present perfect continuous ("I have been dreaming"), past perfect continuous ("I had been dreaming"), future continuous ("I will be dreaming") or future perfect continuous ("I will have been dreaming").
More synonyms by meaning
nouna tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
continuous tense. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/continuous%20tense
“continuous tense.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/continuous%20tense. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “continuous tense,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/continuous%20tense.
Source: continuous tense on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.