Word.ws English Dictionary

continency

UK/ˈkɒntɪnənsi/

continency is the alternative form of continence.

Meaning of continence

Noun

continence (usually uncountable, plural continences)

  1. (usually) The voluntary control of urination and defecation.
    • To maintain continence, the puborectalis muscle chokes the anal canal. The sling of tissue is supposed to release during defecation. Mine has not been doing that.2022 October 2, Cara Schacter, “My Year of Stress and Constipation”, in The New York Times
  2. (usually) Moderation or self-restraint, especially in sexual activity; abstinence.
    • For quotations using this term, see Citations:continence.
  3. (usually) Uninterrupted course; continuity.
    • the Continence of the Cause should be divided1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani: Or, A Commentary, by Way of Supplement to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England. […], London: […] D. Leach, and sold by John...

Forms of continency

pluralcontinencies

Questions about continency

What is continency the alternative form of?
Continency is the alternative form of continence.
How do you pronounce continency?
Continency is pronounced /ˈkɒntɪnənsi/ (UK).

Words near continency in the dictionary

  1. contiguously
  2. contiguousness
  3. continence
  4. continences
  5. continencies
  6. continency
  7. continent
  8. continent of stability
  9. continental
  10. continental breakfast
  11. continental breakfasts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: continency (page history and authors); continence (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “continency.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/continency. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.