as a matter of course
7
3.5
- idiom
:
como cuestión de rutina
- During the training sessions, safety checks are performed as a matter of course before any equipment is used.
- accept as a matter of course
- use as a matter of course
The stuff that some people are given as a matter of course in childhood, we don't get.
- The stuff that some people are given as a matter of course in childhood, we don't get.
- The arrogance of narcissism is pretty universal, so most of them are know it alls as a matter of course, but some are much worse than others.
- Bipartisan part of government, their day-to-day job can be to translate behavioral science into policy as a matter of course.
- I as a matter of course right now am chattering.
Examples
-
Today, young people, Germans and Frenchmen, form friendships across the Rhine as a matter of course.
Academic text (1990) -
The majority of women breastfed their infants as a matter of course.
Academic text (1994) -
People take it as a matter of course that he has a price.
Academic text (2001) -
I would also note that it appears that they do this as a matter of course.
Blog text (5) -
Zark seemed to accept that as a matter of course.
Fiction book (1998) -
I knew at least three of them that ran DNA scans on clients as a matter of course.
Fiction book (2000) -
Health promotion efforts may need to include situation-specific approaches as a matter of course, rather than as exceptions to general practice.
Academic text (2007) -
If you want a profession that requires its practitioners to practice confidentiality as a matter of course, see a psychiatrist.
Fiction book (2000) -
At the restaurant he managed, a flaxen-haired young waitress flirted with him as a matter of course.
Fiction book (1991) -
Many companies conduct performance reviews as a matter of course to ensure employee development.
Synonyms
146
3.5
In a regular way without much thought
Antonyms
How Routine
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'done routinely or automatically' can be partially inferred from 'matter' (a thing) combined with 'course' understood as 'natural order' or 'way of things', so there's a plausible compositional link. However, the exact idiomatic sense 'as a matter of course' (i.e. routinely/without question) is conventionalized and not fully predictable from the literal meanings, so an average B1 learner who knows the words may still not derive the precise meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
The phrase as a matter of course may come from the idea that a matter follows a set course, a usual path it always takes. So when something is done as a matter of course, it happens 'routinely' or 'automatically' without special thought.