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.
State lawmakers routinely carve out environmental exemptions for proposed sports stadiums, sometimes in the closing days of the legislative session.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026
Due to this difference, glacial earthquakes were only discovered relatively recently, despite other seismic sources having been documented routinely for several decades.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
The price for a failed attempt at levity is steep when executives are routinely shredded on social media and complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are at the highest level in nearly a decade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
It resonates in part because pregnant women are routinely handed absolutes with little explanation and expected to comply, so permission to have a little leeway is a welcome relief.
From Slate ● Aug. 27, 2026
For example, an area larger than all of New England — some 50 million acres — is under management by utility corporations and much of it is routinely treated for “brush control.”
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
