regimen
Americannoun
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Medicine/Medical. a regulated course, as of diet, exercise, or manner of living, intended to preserve or restore health or to attain some result.
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Grammar. government.
noun
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Also called: regime. a systematic way of life or course of therapy, often including exercise and a recommended diet
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administration or rule
Etymology
Origin of regimen
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin: rule, government, guidance, equivalent to reg ( ere ) to rule + -i- -i- + -men, noun suffix of result
Explanation
A regimen is a systematic plan for some kind of therapy. If your doctor tells you to eat more vegetables, cut out potato chips, exercise, and take vitamins, she is prescribing a regimen for better health. It's easy to confuse regimen with regime. While both words can refer to an organized plan for diet, exercise, or medical therapy, only regime can refer to a system of government. If you wash your face twice a day, apply medicine to your acne, and use a special lotion, that's your skin-care regimen. But if a country votes out the ruling party in favor of new leaders, that's a new regime.
Vocabulary lists containing regimen
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
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"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak, Part Six
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One of Us Is Lying
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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.
"I was especially intrigued by the passage where he got out of his slump in the late 1990s by creating his own training regimen and finding his way back to the top," Raducanu told Uniqlo.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
He began a yearslong meditation regimen to find the source of that trauma.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
A healthy diet and continued running regimen were signs of a disciplined character.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
The fourth group received both approaches, taking antibiotics for two weeks while also following the omega-3 and ASA regimen for six months.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
This new regimen changed everything: Calmness and strength, two things I feared I was losing, were now back.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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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.
