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

If I had gone through routine scans, I like to think I would have been OK.

Read more on BBC

Scientists describe aging as a process in which cells gradually lose the ability to repair routine damage.

Read more on Science Daily

It was a diversion from the familiar routine of picking which team would win.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Such talk comes as his Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket companies are working to make space travel cheaper and routine.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Some describe a pattern of power being concentrated at the top, with secrecy becoming routine and transparency rare.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

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