ENGLISH
REFERENCE

habitual

adj.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //həˈbɪtʃuəɫ// UK //hɐbˈɪtʃuːəl// ha·bit·u·al Informal

adj. describing something you do very often or by habit, until it becomes a regular part of your life.

adj. done or experienced regularly and repeatedly; established by long-standing practice. Often used to describe a person who consistently behaves in a specific way.


SIMPLE

He is a habitual coffee drinker who needs a cup every morning.

CONTEXTUAL

The teacher noticed that the student's habitual lateness was starting to affect his grades.

COMPLEX

While some behaviors are conscious choices, others become so habitual that the individual performs them without any deliberate thought or awareness of the environmental triggers.

Synonyms
Origin

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English habitual (“of one's inherent disposition”), from Medieval Latin habituālis (“customary; habitual”), from Latin habitus (“character; disposition; habit; physical or emotional condition; attire, dress”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship); analysable as habit + -ual. Habitus is derived from habeō (“to have; to hold; to own; to possess”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, take”)) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs). The noun is derived from the adjective.

Usage

Commonly used both attributively before a noun and predicatively after a linking verb.

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