habitué
Americannoun
-
habitués
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of habitué
First recorded in 1810–20; from French, noun use of masculine past participle of habituer, from Late Latin habituāre; see habituate
Explanation
A habitué is a frequent and well-known patron of a particular place. If you walk into a restaurant, and the entire staff waves and says your name, you are likely a habitué. The English habitué is spelled and pronounced the same as the 200-year-old French word (the accent is optional), which means "accustomed." The most famous habitué in American sitcom history is probably Norm Peterson of Cheers, whose arrival was always greeted by a chorus of patrons shouting "Norm!" Other, less French-sounding words for this famous fellow might be fixture or regular.
Vocabulary lists containing habitue
100 SAT Words Beginning with "H"
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National Spelling Bee '14: Prelims Round 3
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In Cold Blood
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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.
See Examples For:
The older painter, though remaining a salon habitué, lent a Morisot painting he owned to the show.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2025
Born in Italy and a habitué of high society, Troubetzkoy was popularly known as Prince Troubetzkoy, a title gained from his father, who was a Russian prince.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2024
While researching, Peters also stumbled across the green darner dragonfly: Washington’s state insect; a habitué of lakes, ponds and springs; and a rich symbol.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 9, 2022
But Albarado — old, broken up and a habitué of the bush circuit — summoned his instincts of old.
From New York Times ● Oct. 3, 2020
And feeling a terrible habitué, he said to the croupier in French: 'Maximum.
From A Great Man A Frolic by Arnold Bennett
Business-class habitués might not care much but, when you’re splurging, it all starts with the welcome in my book.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
A wall-size mural of Allen Ginsberg with his conventional middle-class relatives faces off against one of Andy Warhol and habitués of the Factory — two luminaries of vanguard culture posing with very different families.
From New York Times ● May 24, 2023
As narrated by Damon Runyon in his signature “Guys and Dolls” style, they describe the tiffs and rivalries among the habitués of a celestial saloon.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 18, 2021
The counterculture movement has deep roots from the granola-crunchy vibe of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury to the chilled-out Abbot Kinney habitués of Venice of old.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2019
Two sailors at the bar were bona fide habitués of the place and so were the two other waterside characters I could faintly discern in one of the dim corners.
From Room Number 3 and Other Detective Stories by Anna Katharine Green
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
