Context. Observations of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves in the structured solar atmosphere have shown that these waves are damped and can thus contribute to atmospheric heating. In this paper, we focus on the damping mechanism of resonant absorption in the cusp continuum. This process takes places when waves travel through an inhomogeneous plasma. Aims. Our aim is to determine the properties of MHD waves undergoing resonant absorption in the cusp continuum in the transition layer of a cylindrical solar atmospheric structure, such as a photospheric pore or a coronal loop. Depending on which quantities dominate, one can assess what type of classical MHD wave the modes in question resemble most. Methods. In order to study the properties of these waves, we analytically determine the spatial profiles of compression, displacement, and vorticity for waves with frequencies in the cusp continuum, which undergo resonant absorption. We confirm these analytical derivations via numerical calculations of the profiles in the resistive MHD framework. Results. We show that the dominant quantities for the modes in the cusp continuum are the displacement parallel to the background magnetic field and the vorticity component in the azimuthal direction (i.e. perpendicular to the background magnetic field and along the loop boundary).