ENGLISH
REFERENCE

routine

n. C / U
B2 Upper Intermediate Oxford US //ɹuˈtin// rou·tine General-service

n. a regular way of doing things in a particular order. It helps you organize your day so you do not have to think about what to do next.

n. a sequence of actions followed regularly; a fixed program of tasks or events. In a computing context, it refers to a sequence of instructions for a specific task.


SIMPLE

I need a morning routine to stay organized.

CONTEXTUAL

The athlete follows a strict daily routine that includes four hours of training and a specific diet.

COMPLEX

Establishing a predictable classroom routine helps students feel secure and allows the teacher to transition between activities without losing the group's attention.

Synonyms
Origin

Unadapted borrowing from French routine. By surface analysis, route + -ine. Further from Latin rupta via. Compare typologically travel << Latin tripālium, whence also travail, note the inverse semantic vector from a subjective state (toil) to an objective action (journey). Also compare Czech běžný (< běžet), Russian обихо́д (obixód), обихо́дный (obixódnyj) (akin to ходи́ть (xodítʹ)).

Usage

Often used with 'daily', 'weekly', or 'set'. When used as 'both', it is uncountable as a general concept and countable when referring to specific sets of actions.

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