Continuist

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A person who holds to continuism, the belief that change happens gradually without sharp breaks from what came before
2. Someone advocating continuism, the doctrine that development flows smoothly and continuously rather than through abrupt discontinuity
3. An adherent of continuism, a position that stresses unbroken continuity between past, present and future in a given field

Etymology: "Continuist" is a derivative of "continuity" with the agent suffix "-ist", meaning a person who holds to the doctrine of continuism: the view that development, whether in nature, history or thought, proceeds smoothly and gradually rather than through sudden breaks. The word is formed on the same pattern as "realist" or "moralist", attaching "-ist" to the noun "continuity," which itself comes from the Latin "continuus," meaning "uninterrupted" or "joined together." The source ties the word to "continuationist," which means the same thing and is the more common choice in the literature. Both words describe people who see a process as an unbroken chain of change, where each stage grows out of the last without a clean rupture. The rival term gives the idea a second name, so a reader meeting either one is looking at the same position.

Synonyms: gradualist

Antonyms: catastrophist