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.
Online reports and videos showing Cybertrucks defeated by conditions such as uneven terrain and steep grades that are routinely managed by rival pickups may also have sapped buyer enthusiasm for the model.
From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2026
The EPA offices routinely relied on them to set the amount of a particular chemical that industrial facilities are allowed to emit.
From Salon • May 5, 2026
To the U.A.E., this was especially galling because several OPEC+ states were routinely falling short of their production targets.
From Barron's • May 4, 2026
Officers told an internal Scotland Yard investigation that they routinely used their own phones, and sent images via WhatsApp, because police-issued devices were not good enough to take quality photographs.
From BBC • May 3, 2026
In practice, however, children routinely “waive” their right to counsel in juvenile proceedings.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
