routinely
Americanadverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of routinely
Explanation
When you do something routinely, you do it often and regularly. Many people routinely brush their teeth before they go to bed and again when they wake up in the morning. Something that's become a habit or an often repeated series of actions is done routinely. Your actual daily routine is one example of this — you might routinely eat cereal for breakfast, or routinely feed your cat at 5:00, for example. You can also say that a movie critic who always seems to find some fault with a film routinely trashes all your favorite movies. The French root is routine, "usual course of action," from route, "way or path."
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.
“By automatically applying penalty relief, the IRS recognizes that taxpayers who historically pay on time should not have to make a formal request for relief that is routinely granted,” he said.
From MarketWatch • Jul. 8, 2026
During the country’s first century, we routinely ran trade deficits as the British and Dutch invested heavily in America.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 8, 2026
Reports routinely include aspects of parenting on which reasonable people disagree, such as how old a child should be to play unsupervised, or that reflect a parents’ lack of resources instead of any intentional misconduct.
From Slate • Jul. 7, 2026
Newport Beach police routinely monitor social media, but saw no early indication that such massive crowds would be arriving on the Peninsula.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 6, 2026
In South Korea, North Korean defectors routinely quit their jobs, claiming they have been singled out for persecution.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
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.
