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.
The group's chair Zoe Hollowood wrote to the party's chief executive Mike Dixon this week arguing that complaints raised by its members were being dismissed while complaints about them are "routinely" progressed.
From BBC • Jun. 27, 2026
Citizens of both countries routinely cross over to do business and visit relatives.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 26, 2026
There are parallels here to the late 1990s, when tech innovation and investment resulted in productivity increases routinely north of 2.5%.
From Barron's • Jun. 26, 2026
As to those analogues: Jackson ridiculed Alito’s refusal to acknowledge that they show how “states routinely required affirmative consent for armed carry onto private property” at the founding.
From Slate • Jun. 25, 2026
Livers infested with these worms are unfit for use as human food and are routinely condemned.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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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.