Basic Details
Word: Discontinued
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Stopped; no longer made, sold, offered or done. It is the past tense of discontinue and is also used as an adjective, as in a discontinued model.
Synonyms: stopped, ended, withdrawn, dropped
Antonyms: continued, resumed, maintained
How to Spell Discontinued
Syllables: dis - con - tin - ued
Tricky part: Continue already ends in e, so only d is added: continued. The prefix dis has one s. Students write discontined or disscontinued.
Watch out for: discontined, discontinud, disscontinued
Memory tip: Picture a TV serial that stops mid-story: it was continued, then dis was stuck on the front. Do not lose the u-e in the middle.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The company discontinued its free delivery service last month.
Example 2: The doctor discontinued the tablets once the infection cleared.
Example 3: The magazine was discontinued after its sales fell.
Fun Fact
The Hindustan Ambassador, a car made in India from 1958, was discontinued in 2014 after more than five decades of production.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the word opposite in meaning to discontinued as used in the sentence:
The bus service to our village was discontinued last year because too few people used it.
a) resumed
b) stopped
c) reduced
d) ended
Show answer
a) resumed. Discontinued means stopped; resumed means started again.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
discontinueed
a) i
b) n
c) e
d) u
Show answer
c) e. Continue already has its e, so only d is added.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The shop told us that model of mobile phone had been ndiutoncdeis two years ago.
a) continued
b) disconnected
c) discontinued
d) discounted
Show answer
c) discontinued. Disconnected needs a second c and a second e, while discounted and continued are too short for these twelve letters.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. If a medicine is discontinued, ____.
a) it is sold in bigger packets
b) it is no longer made or given
c) it becomes cheaper
d) it is given twice a day
Show answer
b) it is no longer made or given
2. Which word has a prefix with the same meaning as the dis in discontinued?
a) preview
b) redo
c) overeat
d) unhappy
Show answer
d) unhappy
