repetitive
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- nonrepetitive adjective
- nonrepetitively adverb
- repetitively adverb
- repetitiveness noun
- unrepetitive adjective
- unrepetitively adverb
Etymology
Origin of repetitive
First recorded in 1830–40; from Latin repetīt(us) “attacked again” (past participle of repetere “to attack again, demand return of”; see repeat) + -ive
Explanation
Something that is repetitive involves doing the same thing over and over again. If you get bored running on a treadmill daily, you might try something less repetitive, like playing soccer outdoors. Anything you do repeatedly, especially when it's boring, can be described using the adjective repetitive. Jobs like loading and unloading a dishwasher, filing papers, and cleaning a bathroom can all feel repetitive when you have to do them regularly. A story your dad tells every time you have guests for dinner is repetitive, and a droning song that repeats the same chorus again and again is repetitive too.
Vocabulary lists containing repetitive
The Amber Spyglass
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"Journeys," Vocabulary from Lesson 3
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Boring
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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.
It was tedious, repetitive work on assembly lines, hundreds of women around me.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
If the robot only needs to do a repetitive task - the kind it might do at that Chongqing car factory - it only needs a relatively simple robot brain.
From BBC • Apr. 7, 2026
CTE is a degenerative brain disease that has been found in people exposed to repetitive head trauma; it can be diagnosed only after death.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026
As AI becomes integrated into offices and factories, lower-rung workers and those whose jobs involve repetitive tasks feel especially at risk, the payroll giant’s polling showed.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 3, 2026
His mom had finally bought him one last Christmas with some of the back pay she’d received after convincing some doctor that, seriously, she had a repetitive strain injury.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
Definitions 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.
