transcontinental

/ˌtrænzˌkɑntɪˈnɛntəl/

Other forms: transcontinentally

When you fly from New York to California, you can describe your flight as transcontinental, crossing the continent of North America.

Use the adjective transcontinental when something goes from one side of a continent to the other, like the European transcontinental railroad called the Orient Express or an airplane flight across Asia. In the nineteenth century, the First Transcontinental Railroad was built in the United States. As well as being the first railway to cross an entire continent, it also marked the coining of the word transcontinental, from trans, "across," and continental, "of a continent."

Definitions of transcontinental

1. adjective

   spanning or crossing or on the farther side of a continent
   “transcontinental railway”

   “transcontinental travelers”

   “a transcontinental city”

   synonyms:

   continental

   being or concerning or limited to a continent especially the continents of North America or Europe