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.

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Origin of routine

1670–80; < French, derivative of route route

SYNONYMS FOR routine

8 habitual, ordinary, typical.

OTHER WORDS FROM routine

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

un·rou·tine·ly, adverb

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH routine

regular routine

Words nearby routine

routeman, routemarch, router, router patch, routh, routine, routineer, routing, routinism, routinize, roux

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

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 forms of routine

routinely, 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