Continual means happening repeatedly over time, with breaks in between. If your little brother makes continual interruptions while you're trying to read, he keeps bothering you again and again, though not necessarily every single second. If there's continual rain throughout the week, it rains frequently but stops now and then, unlike continuous rain that never lets up.

The distinction matters: continual suggests repetition with pauses, while continuous means unbroken and constant. A dripping faucet makes a continual sound (drip, drip, drip), but a running faucet makes a continuous stream. Teachers might need to give continual reminders about homework because students keep forgetting, not because they're literally reminding them every moment.

People sometimes use continual when they're frustrated by something that keeps happening: continual distractions, continual problems with a computer, or the continual need to remind someone to clean their room. The word captures that sense of “here we go again” when something keeps recurring, even if there are quiet moments in between.