habituation
Americannoun
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the act of habituating.
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the condition of being habituated.
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physiological tolerance to or psychological dependence on a drug, short of addiction.
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reduction of psychological or behavioral response occurring when a specific stimulus occurs repeatedly.
noun
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the act or process of habituating
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psychol the temporary waning of an innate response that occurs when it is elicited many times in succession Compare extinction
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The gradual decline of a response to a stimulus resulting from repeated exposure to the stimulus.
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Physiological tolerance for a drug resulting from repeated use.
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Psychological dependence on a drug resulting from repeated use.
Etymology
Origin of habituation
Explanation
Habituation is what happens when an organism gets used to a certain environment or stimulus. Through habituation, the squirrels in a city park often become so used to humans that they don't run away from them — and even beg them for food. If you live near an airport and hear planes taking off and landing every day, habituation occurs — eventually you get so used to the noise that you don't even notice it. The same thing happens to non-human organisms. Thanks to habituation, your pet turtle doesn't hide in his shell every time you touch him anymore. He is used to you petting him. When the world presents a new stimulus, habituation can help an animal adapt to it. Habituation comes from the Late Latin habituat, "accustomed."
Vocabulary lists containing habituation
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Costo-style habituation makes chicken an ingredient that feels like it should always be available at accessible prices no matter what happens to the economy, similar to how Americans view eggs.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026
Studying habituation in single cells could help propel understanding of how learning in general works, the researchers said.
From Science Daily • Nov. 19, 2024
It just seems as though through habit, habituation, comfort-sleepwalking, or myopia, we are so narrowly focused on this small tranche of cases and still treat the justices as oracles.
From Slate • Oct. 5, 2024
In addition, binging on breakup songs can be part of “a habituation process” that reduces the intensity of feelings associated with a romantic split, Sbarra said.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 19, 2024
Hence this difference in habituation may well account for the different action of the reproductive organs when domestic races and when species are crossed.
From The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Volume II (of 2) by Darwin, Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
