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Synonyms

regimen

American  
[rej-uh-muhn, -men, rezh-] / ˈrɛdʒ ə mən, -ˌmɛn, ˈrɛʒ- /

noun

  1. Medicine/Medical. a regulated course, as of diet, exercise, or manner of living, intended to preserve or restore health or to attain some result.

  2. regime.

  3. Grammar. government.


regimen British  
/ ˈrɛdʒɪˌmɛn /

noun

  1. Also called: regime.  a systematic way of life or course of therapy, often including exercise and a recommended diet

  2. administration or rule

"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

Etymology

Origin of regimen

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin: rule, government, guidance, equivalent to reg ( ere ) to rule + -i- -i- + -men, noun suffix of result

Explanation

A regimen is a systematic plan for some kind of therapy. If your doctor tells you to eat more vegetables, cut out potato chips, exercise, and take vitamins, she is prescribing a regimen for better health. It's easy to confuse regimen with regime. While both words can refer to an organized plan for diet, exercise, or medical therapy, only regime can refer to a system of government. If you wash your face twice a day, apply medicine to your acne, and use a special lotion, that's your skin-care regimen. But if a country votes out the ruling party in favor of new leaders, that's a new regime.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing regimen

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.

Bjorge, from Company C in the 86th Infantry Regimen, wasn’t a skier.

From Washington Times • Feb. 29, 2020

By the 11th century, medieval healers were still looking to Hippocrates, Galen, and other ancient doctors whose teachings had been translated by monks into Latin and compiled into the great medical tome Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum.

From Slate • Nov. 20, 2018

Sorting out 100 responses, Foote took up an offer to buy in and become president of Kastor, Hilton, Chesley, Clifford & Atherton, Inc., which was then reeling from a scandal concerning Regimen tablets.

From Time Magazine Archive

Kastor, Hilton's ads, the Government had charged, featured a "doctored" laboratory report that cited false weight losses, used as "before" and "after" examples TV models who had crash-dieted away pounds supposedly pared off by Regimen.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Patient must be restrained to his Regimen; and instead of the Ptisan Nº.

From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by Tissot, S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David)