routine

[ roo-teen ]
See synonyms for: routineroutinesroutinelyroutineness on Thesaurus.com

noun
  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.

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

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

  3. Computers.

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

    • a series of operations performed by the computer.

  4. 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
  1. of the nature of, proceeding by, or adhering to routine: routine duties.

  2. dull or uninteresting; commonplace.

Origin of routine

1
First recorded in 1670–80; from French, derivative of route route

Other words for routine

Other words from routine

  • rou·tine·ly, adverb
  • rou·tine·ness, noun
  • non·rou·tine, adjective, noun
  • un·rou·tine, adjective

Words that may be confused with routine

Words Nearby routine

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use routine in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for routine

routine

/ (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

  1. a set sequence of dance steps

  2. informal a hackneyed or insincere speech

adjective
  1. of, relating to, or characteristic of routine

Origin of routine

1
C17: from Old French, from route a customary way, route

Derived forms of routine

  • routinely, adverb

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