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regular

[reg-yuh-ler]
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adjective
  1. usual; normal; customary: to put something in its regular place.
  2. evenly or uniformly arranged; symmetrical: regular teeth.
  3. characterized by fixed principle, uniform procedure, etc.: regular income.
  4. recurring at fixed times; periodic: regular bus departures; regular meals.
  5. rhythmical: regular breathing.
  6. occurring with normal frequency, as menses or bowel movements.
  7. having regular menses or bowel movements.
  8. adhering to a rule or procedure; methodical: regular habits; to be regular in one's diet.
  9. observing fixed times or habits; habitual: a regular customer.
  10. orderly; well-ordered: a regular life.
  11. conforming to some accepted rule, discipline, etc.
  12. carried out in accordance with an accepted principle or rule; formally correct: a regular session of the court.
  13. qualified to engage in an occupation or profession; legitimate; proper: I suspected the man wasn't a regular doctor.
  14. Informal.
    1. real or genuine; down-to-earth; decent: a regular guy.
    2. absolute; thoroughgoing: a regular rascal.
  15. (of a flower) having the members of each of its floral circles or whorls alike in form and size.
  16. Grammar. conforming to the most prevalent pattern of formation, inflection, construction, etc.a regular verb.
  17. Mathematics.
    1. governed by one law throughout.
    2. (of a polygon) having all sides and angles equal.
    3. (of a polyhedron) having all faces congruent regular polygons, and all solid angles congruent.
    4. (of a topological space) having the property that, corresponding to each point and a closed set not containing the point, there are two disjoint open sets, one containing the point, the other containing the closed set.
    5. (of a function of a complex variable) analytic(def 5a).
  18. Military. noting or belonging to the permanently organized, or standing, army of a state.
  19. International Law. noting soldiers recognized as legitimate combatants in warfare.
  20. Ecclesiastical. subject to a religious rule, or belonging to a religious or monastic order (opposed to secular): regular clergy.
  21. U.S. Politics. of, relating to, or selected by the recognized agents of a political party: the regular ticket.
  22. of or relating to a product, as a food or beverage, that has the original formula or typical ingredients, usually used to contrast with a modified version of the same product: regular or diet soda;regular yogurt or soy yogurt;regular gasoline or premium.
  23. (of coffee) containing an average amount of milk or cream.
noun
  1. a long-standing or habitual customer or client: The restaurant can always find tables for its regulars.
  2. Ecclesiastical. a member of a duly constituted religious order under a rule.
  3. Military. a professional soldier.
  4. U.S. Politics. a party member who faithfully stands by his or her party.
  5. a size of garment designed for men of average build.
  6. a garment, as a suit or overcoat, in this size.
  7. an athlete who plays in most of the games, usually from the start.

Origin of regular

1350–1400; Middle English reguler (adj.) < Middle French < Late Latin rēgulāris. See regula, -ar1
Related formsreg·u·lar·i·ty [reg-yuh-lar-i-tee] /ˌrɛg yəˈlær ɪ ti/, reg·u·lar·ness, nounqua·si-reg·u·lar, adjectivequa·si-reg·u·lar·ly, adverbsub·reg·u·lar, adjectivesub·reg·u·lar·i·ty, noun
Can be confusedregular routine

Synonyms

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2. even, formal, orderly, uniform. 4. habitual, established, fixed. 8. systematic.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for regular

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • It will not even be a regular history in the accepted sense of the word.

    Ancient Man

    Hendrik Willem van Loon

  • It was one of the regular delights of the household to see them bathe.

    Malbone

    Thomas Wentworth Higginson

  • The stairway was very narrow, and formed a regular spiral as in a turret.

    Malbone

    Thomas Wentworth Higginson

  • For the remainder of that day, poor George was in a regular whirl of excitement.

    Life in London

    Edwin Hodder

  • The sungar was a regular trap, and the company were ordered to retire.

British Dictionary definitions for regular

regular

adjective
  1. normal, customary, or usual
  2. according to a uniform principle, arrangement, or ordertrees planted at regular intervals
  3. occurring at fixed or prearranged intervalsto make a regular call on a customer
  4. following a set rule or normal practice; methodical or orderly
  5. symmetrical in appearance or form; evenregular features
  6. (prenominal) organized, elected, conducted, etc, in a proper or officially prescribed manner
  7. (prenominal) officially qualified or recognizedhe's not a regular doctor
  8. (prenominal) (intensifier)a regular fool
  9. US and Canadian informal likable, dependable, or nice (esp in the phrase a regular guy)
  10. denoting or relating to the personnel or units of the permanent military servicesa regular soldier; the regular army
  11. (of flowers) having any of their parts, esp petals, alike in size, shape, arrangement, etc; symmetrical
  12. (of the formation, inflections, etc, of a word) following the usual pattern of formation in a language
  13. maths
    1. (of a polygon) equilateral and equiangular
    2. (of a polyhedron) having identical regular polygons as faces that make identical angles with each other
    3. (of a prism) having regular polygons as bases
    4. (of a pyramid) having a regular polygon as a base and the altitude passing through the centre of the base
    5. another name for analytic (def. 5)
  14. botany another word for actinomorphic
  15. (postpositive) subject to the rule of an established religious order or communitycanons regular
  16. US politics of, selected by, or loyal to the leadership or platform of a political partya regular candidate; regular policies
  17. crystallog another word for cubic (def. 4)
noun
  1. a professional long-term serviceman or -woman in a military unit
  2. informal a person who does something regularly, such as attending a theatre or patronizing a shop
  3. a member of a religious order or congregation, as contrasted with a secular
  4. US politics a party member loyal to the leadership, organization, platform, etc, of his or her party
Derived Formsregularity, nounregularly, adverb

Word Origin

C14: from Old French reguler, from Latin rēgulāris of a bar of wood or metal, from rēgula ruler, model
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for regular

adj.

late 14c., from Old French reguler "ecclesiastical" (Modern French r*#233;gulier), from Late Latin regularis "containing rules for guidance," from Latin regula "rule," from PIE *reg- "move in a straight line" (see regal).

Earliest sense was of religious orders (the opposite of secular). Extended from late 16c. to shapes, etc., that followed predictable or uniform patterns; sense of "normal" is from 1630s; meaning "real, genuine" is from 1821. Old English borrowed Latin regula and nativized it as regol "rule, regulation, canon, law, standard, pattern;" hence regolsticca "ruler" (instrument); regollic (adj.) "canonical, regular."

n.

c.1400, "member of a religious order," from regular (adj.). Sense of "soldier of a standing army" is from 1756. Meaning "regular customer" is from 1852; meaning "leaded gasoline" is from 1978.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
regular in Science

regular

[rĕg′yə-lər]
  1. Having all sides or faces equal. For example, a square is a regular polygon, and a cube is a regular polyhedron.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.