routine

[ roo-teen ]

/ ruˈtin /

noun

a customary or regular course of procedure.

commonplace tasks, chores, or duties as must be done regularly or at specified intervals; typical or everyday activity: the routine of an office.

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

an unvarying and constantly repeated formula, as of speech or action; convenient or predictable response: Don't give me that brotherly-love routine!

Computers.

a complete set of coded instructions directing a computer to perform a series of operations.
a series of operations performed by the computer.

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

of the nature of, proceeding by, or adhering to routine: routine duties.

dull or uninteresting; commonplace.

Nearby words

Origin of routine

1670–80; < French, derivative of route route

SYNONYMS FOR routine

8. habitual, ordinary, typical.

Related forms

rou·tine·ly, adverbrou·tine·ness, nounnon·rou·tine, adjective, nounun·rou·tine, adjective

un·rou·tine·ly, adverb

Can be confusedregular routine

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

British Dictionary definitions for nonroutine

routine

/ (ruːˈtiːn) /

noun

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

computing a program or part of a program performing a specific functionan input routine; an output routine

a set sequence of dance steps

informal a hackneyed or insincere speech

adjective

of, relating to, or characteristic of routine

Derived Formsroutinely, adverb

Word Origin for routine

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

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 nonroutine

routine

1670s, from French routine "usual course of action, beaten path" (16c.), from route "way, path, course" (see route (n.)) + noun suffix -ine (see -ine (1)). Theatrical or athletic performance sense is from 1926. The adjective is attested from 1817, from the noun. Related: Routinely.