habit

[hab-it]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR habit ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary: the habit of looking both ways before crossing the street.

customary practice or use: Daily bathing is an American habit.

a particular practice, custom, or usage: the habit of shaking hands.

a dominant or regular disposition or tendency; prevailing character or quality: She has a habit of looking at the bright side of things.

addiction, especially to narcotics (often preceded by the).

mental character or disposition: a habit of mind.

characteristic bodily or physical condition.

the characteristic form, aspect, mode of growth, etc., of an organism: a twining habit.

the characteristic crystalline form of a mineral.

garb of a particular rank, profession, religious order, etc.: a monk's habit.

the attire worn by a rider of a saddle horse.

verb (used with object)

to clothe; array.

Origin of habit

1175–1225; Middle English < Latin habitus state, style, practice, equivalent to habi- (variant stem of habēre to have) + -tus verbal noun suffix; replacing Middle English abit < Old French

Synonyms for habit

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR habit ON THESAURUS.COM

2. bent, wont. 10. dress, costume. 12. dress, garb, attire; deck out.

Synonym study

3. See custom.

habit

[hab-it]

verb (used with object)

Archaic. to dwell in.

verb (used without object)

Obsolete. to dwell.

Origin of habit

1325–75; Middle English habiten < Latin habitāre to inhabit; see habitat

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for habit

style, nature, pattern, quirk, custom, thing, manner, routine, usage, obsession, mode, fashion, set, bent, dependence, bias, use, gravitation, constitution, propensity

Examples from the Web for habit

Contemporary Examples of habit

Hollywood has developed a habit of relying on what worked best in the past, and 300 was hugely successful.
Meet Moses the Swashbuckling Israelite
James Romm
December 14, 2014
We still retain the 27 November habit, through sheer gluttony more than anything else.
Confessions of a Turkey Killer
Tom Sykes
November 26, 2014
Texas governors have a habit of running for president: Just ask Perry or former president George W. Bush.
The Most Interesting Place to Be Tonight
Tim Mak
November 4, 2014
Those who dream of a post-partisan future should note that paranoia has a habit of erasing traditional political boundaries.
From ISIS to Ebola, What Has Made Naomi Wolf So Paranoid?
Michael Moynihan
October 11, 2014
Prince has a habit of shedding protégés almost as quickly as he picks them up.
Prince Returns From the Wilderness and, Thankfully, Is as Restless as Ever
Keith Phipps
October 1, 2014

Historical Examples of habit

In you I was sure of a mind strong enough to break the fetters of habit.
Philothea
Lydia Maria Child
It was his habit to affect that he constantly forgot his mother's name.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
She was not a woman in the habit of reasoning, and had no conception of the difficulties in his way.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
I am in the habit of boarding at a quiet house kept by a widow.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
At first you kept on wondering what the joke was, till you saw it was only a habit Sarah had.
Life and Death of Harriett Frean
May Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for habit

habit

noun

a tendency or disposition to act in a particular way

established custom, usual practice, etc

psychol a learned behavioural response that has become associated with a particular situation, esp one frequently repeated

mental disposition or attitudea good working habit of mind

a practice or substance to which a person is addicteddrink has become a habit with him
the state of being dependent on something, esp a drug

botany zoology the method of growth, type of existence, behaviour, or general appearance of a plant or animala climbing habit; a burrowing habit

the customary apparel of a particular occupation, rank, etc, now esp the costume of a nun or monk

Also called: riding habit a woman's riding dress

crystallog short for crystal habit

verb (tr)

to clothe

an archaic word for inhabit, habituate

Word Origin for habit

C13: from Latin habitus custom, from habēre to have

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 habit

early 13c., "characteristic attire of a religious or clerical order," from Old French habit, abit (12c.) "clothing, (ecclesiastical) habit; conduct," from Latin habitus "condition, demeanor, appearance, dress," originally past participle of habere "to have, to hold, possess," from PIE root *ghabh- "to seize, take, hold, have, give, receive" (cf. Sanskrit gabhasti- "hand, forearm;" Old Irish gaibim "I take, hold, I have," gabal "act of taking;" Lithuanian gabana "armful," gabenti "to remove;" Gothic gabei "riches;" Old English giefan, Old Norse gefa "to give").

Base sense probably "to hold," which can be either in offering or in taking. Applied in Latin to both inner and outer states of being, and taken over in both sense by English, though meaning of "dress" is now restricted to monks and nuns. Meaning "customary practice" is early 14c. Drug sense is from 1887.

mid-14c., "to dwell," from Old French habiter "to dwell, inhabit; have dealings with," from Latin habitare "to live, dwell," frequentative of habere "to have, to hold, possess" (see habit (n.)). Meaning "to dress" is from 1580s; "to habituate" from 1610s; "to make a habit of" from 1660s. Related: Habited; habiting.

habit in Medicine