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habitual

habitual

28 4.0
Happens often in the same way
  • adjective
  • /həˈbɪtʃuəl/
: habitual
  • His habitual lateness for meetings has become a source of frustration for his colleagues.
  • habitual behavior
  • habitual pattern
  • habitual routine

He's a terrible president, and he is a habitual liar.

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Examples

  • Look, everybody's a habitual somethin'.

  • They have habitual thoughts, habitual ways, they drive to work, habitual conversations.

  • Whatever it is that you practice doing will become habitual to you.

  • But the problem with it is technology has made us become more and more habitual and less and less connected.

  • Many steps can and should be taken to reduce the health risks of long term or habitual computer use.

  • This was his habitual practice, this was his driving habits.

  • Through it all, she had managed to project her habitual air of composure.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • It can become a habit, a habitual question that we ask ourselves.

  • Salvation can be yours, if you cleanse yourselves of the habitual lies which have brought you here.

  • Jim's motion of picking it off his belt was habitual and instant, like a snake's strike.

    Fiction book (2002)

Synonyms

common
vshabitual
∞ 1.0

Happening often or seen in many places

emphasizes repeated performance rather than mere commonness
regular
vshabitual
∞ 1.0

Happening at fixed times on a schedule

covers repeated behaviour more generally, not only scheduled events
usual
vshabitual
∞ 1.0

Happening most of the time in a normal way

emphasizes repeated performance rather than general typicality
everyday
vshabitual
448 1.0

Ordinary clothes or things used in daily life, not for special occasions

covers regular repetition beyond just daily or routine matters
frequent
vshabitual
234 1.0

Happening often or many times

means repeated occurrence but without stressing how often
recurring
vshabitual
75 3.3

Happens again and again over time

is about being done regularly rather than merely repeating occasionally
customary
vshabitual
64 3.5

Something done because of tradition or habit

focuses on repeated action rather than socially defined practice
perennial
vshabitual
30 5.3

Continuing for a long time and often returning

is about regular repetition rather than long endurance
recurrent
vshabitual
14 4.7

Happening again and again, often at regular times

focuses on regular habit rather than simply repeated instances
chronic
vshabitual
6 5.4

Having a bad habit that lasts a long time and is hard to change

refers to regular behaviour without necessarily being bad or fixed
inveterate
vshabitual
  • Formal
5 8.4

Having a long habit of doing something that is hard to change

means repeated behaviour but without implying resistance to change
quotidian
vshabitual
3 8.2

Common events or things that happen every day

is about repeated actions rather than the mundane quality of them
wonted
vshabitual
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A usual way of doing things or behaving

is about things done regularly rather than by tradition

Antonyms

∞ 2.2

Not common and different from what people expect

42 3.5

Happening at no fixed times

Compounds

A person who often commits the same kind of crime and is arrested many times

A repeated failure to arrive on time

habitual abortion
  • Specialized
1 8.7

A condition of repeated miscarriage with no clear cause

How Frequent

constant
525 2.5
persistent
95 4.9
habitual
28 4.0
regular
∞ 1.0
occasional
257 2.8

Surface Forms

habitual positive
habitualer comparative
habitualest superlative

Morphology

habitual = habit (transparent) = habit + ual

Direct adjectival formation from 'habit' with the productive suffix '-ual', so the meaning 'done regularly' follows straightforwardly from 'habit'.

Etymology

Habitual comes from the simple word habit, which is from an old Latin root habere meaning 'to have' and the related habitare meaning 'to live'. So habitual describes something you do regularly or in the usual way.