routine

[roo-teen]

noun

1. a customary or regular course of procedure.

2. commonplace tasks, chores, or duties as must be done regularly or at specified intervals; typical or everyday activity.

   the routine of an office.

3. regular, unvarying, habitual, unimaginative, or rote procedure.

4. an unvarying and constantly repeated formula, as of speech or action; convenient or predictable response.

   Don't give me that brotherly-love routine!

5. Computers.

   1. a complete set of coded instructions directing a computer to perform a series of operations.

   2. a series of operations performed by the computer.

6. an individual act, performance, or part of a performance, as a song or dance, given regularly by an entertainer.

   a comic routine; a dance routine.

adjective

1. of the nature of, proceeding by, or adhering to routine.

   routine duties.

2. dull or uninteresting; commonplace.

   Synonyms: typical, ordinary, habitual

routine

/ ruːˈtiːn /

noun

1. a usual or regular method of procedure, esp one that is unvarying

2. computing a program or part of a program performing a specific function

   an input routine

   an output routine

3. a set sequence of dance steps

4. informal,  a hackneyed or insincere speech

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of routine

Other Word Forms

• routinely adverb
• routineness noun
• nonroutine adjective
• unroutine adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of routine¹

First recorded in 1670–80; from French, derivative of route route

Word History and Origins

Origin of routine¹

C17: from Old French, from route a customary way, _route

Example Sentences

This is not the same for the annual physical tests given to all service members, which include routine exercises like push-ups.

From BBC

The BBC's secret cameras captured what the station's routine monitoring could not.

From BBC

And now, for the first time in recent memory, agencies have been directed to go beyond routine leave notices.

From Salon

Fingernails painted aqua blue, a teenage girl’s beauty routine.

From Los Angeles Times

This is a change from the less choreographed routines which were often centred around crossing it to certain zones in the box, relying on your best players to win headers through their physicality and duelling.

From BBC

Related Words

• act 
• custom 
• cycle 
• drill 
• groove 
• habit 
• method 
• pace 
• pattern 
• piece 
• practice 
• procedure 
• program 
• system 
• technique 
• use