routine

American  

[roo-teen] / ruˈtin /

noun

• routines
  plural

1. a customary or regular course of procedure.

2. commonplace tasks, chores, or duties as must be done regularly or at specified intervals; typical or everyday activity.

   the routine of an office.

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

4. an unvarying and constantly repeated formula, as of speech or action; convenient or predictable response.

   Don't give me that brotherly-love routine!

5. Computers.

   1. a complete set of coded instructions directing a computer to perform a series of operations.

   2. a series of operations performed by the computer.

6. 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.

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adjective

1. of the nature of, proceeding by, or adhering to routine.

   routine duties.

2. dull or uninteresting; commonplace.

   Synonyms:

   typical, ordinary, habitual

routine British  

/ ruːˈtiːn /

noun

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

2. computing a program or part of a program performing a specific function

   an input routine

   an output routine

3. a set sequence of dance steps

4. informal a hackneyed or insincere speech

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of routine

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• routineness
  noun
• nonroutine
  adjective
• unroutine
  adjective
• routinely
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• routines
  plural

Etymology

Origin of routine

First recorded in 1670–80; from French, derivative of route route

Explanation

A routine is like a habit or sequence that doesn't vary. There are daily routines and dance routines, and maybe even daily dance routines. Something routine isn't unusual: routine things happen all the time. Most jobs have a routine — things that must be done on a regular basis. People often get surprised by things that aren't part of their routine, or "shake up their routine." Computer routines are predetermined and predictable. Singers and dancers also have routines — the planned performances they've (hopefully) been practicing.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

routine routines

Pardilla remembers bar hopping as a routine weekend activity.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

She attends school, where she’s entering Year 7—the equivalent of sixth grade in America—and doesn’t have a set routine for studying chess.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

The Lincoln, normally based in San Diego, set sail in November for a routine deployment to the Pacific.

From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026

The magazine said Macron's vacation routine also included boxing and running.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

That routine had gone on for months, and the underwater mountain of minerals had slowly grown smaller.

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown

But today, with our easy access to cheap, calorie-dense junk food and sedentary routines, those same adaptations that once helped us to survive can cause us a few issues.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026

The show is normally anchored by a well-known comedian, who introduces two other comics to present their own stand-up routines at London's Hammersmith Apollo.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

She said there’s grief for the people, routines and even a person’s identity that’s been left behind.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026

Places built around private convenience look lonelier than places where daily routines force people to bump into one another.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

The veterans were spending more time indoors and generally going back to whatever routines they’d had before the summer.

From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Related Words

• act
• custom
• cycle
• drill
• groove
• habit
• method
• pace
• pattern
• piece
• practice
• procedure
• program
• system
• technique
• use