discontinuance

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Lack of continued connection

Nouns — discontinuance, discontinuity; disruption; disjunction, disconnection, interruption, letup, break, gap, interval, caesura; broken thread; intermission, half-time. Slang, pit stop. See disuse, irregularity, relinquishment.

Verbs

1. be discontinuous, alternate, intermit. See irregularity.

2. (make discontinuous) discontinue, call off, pause, disrupt, interrupt, break into, hang up, cut short, break off, lay off; stop, cease, desist, give over, knock off, call it a day or quits, grind to a halt; draw or pull up, intervene, break in upon; interpose (see between); break the thread; drop out; disconnect, disjoin, dislocate; cut, shut, or turn off, curtail, close or shut down, shut up shop, suspend, have done with, quit, throw in the sponge, give up the argument (see resignation). See end.

Adjectives — discontinuous, discrete, unsuccessive, broken, interrupted, disconnected, unconnected; parenthetical, episodic, fitful, irregular (see irregularity); spasmodic, desultory, intermitting, intermittent; alternate, recurrent, periodic; few and far between; abrupt. Informal, herky-jerky.

Adverbs — discontinuously, sporadically, at intervals; by snatches, by fits and starts, fitfully; so much for.

Antonyms, see continuity.

II

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. The act of stopping: cessation, check, cut-off, discontinuation, halt1, stay1, stop, stoppage, surcease. See CONTINUE. 2. The condition of being stopped: cessation, discontinuation, halt1, standstill, stop, stoppage, surcease. See CONTINUE. 3. A cessation of continuity or regularity: break, discontinuation, discontinuity, disruption, interruption, pause, suspension. See CONTINUE.