incessantly; without a pause; continuously
Describes an action or state that continues without interruption. Often used with verbs like 降る (rain), 鳴る (ring), or 続く (continue).
The rain has been falling incessantly.
The phone is ringing without a pause.
It has been raining without a pause since last night.
The sound of machinery can be heard continuously from the construction site.
The criticism directed at him continued without a pause.
絶え間なく is a neutral, written-style word for continuous action, while ひっきりなしに is more colloquial and often describes a steady stream of sounds or visitors.
絶え間なく focuses on the lack of any pause, while 始終 emphasizes that something happens from beginning to end or all the time.
絶え間なく emphasizes there are no gaps or pauses in an action, while 止めどなく stresses that a flow (of tears, words, water) cannot be stopped.
絶え間なく describes something happening without any break, whereas 時々 describes something happening only occasionally.
Standard kanji spelling with high priority.
Variant using 無 instead of なく; less common but still encountered.
Abbreviated form omitting え; rare and may be considered nonstandard.
Rare variant combining abbreviation and 無.
Derived from 絶え間 (taema, 'pause, interval') + なく (adverbial form of ない, 'not'), literally 'without a pause'.