routine
/ɹuˈtin/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.37 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A set of instructions designed to perform a specific task; a subroutine.
Countable; Uncountable
adj
Ordinary with nothing to distinguish it from all the others.
Example Sentences
- "Connie was completely robotic and emotionless by age 12; her entire life had become one big routine."
- "It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy."
- "stand-up comedy routine"
- ""Morning, inspector," affably remarked the cripple—he had not failed to observe the badge—"rather early for your job, eh? Nothing wrong with our supply up here, I hope, eh?" "Nothing at all, sir," said the inspector. "Just an ordinary routine round. We do them regularly.""
- "Pepper's forgiven me in the quiet, hurt way women sometimes forgive. She doesn't cry. She doesn't smile either. She's being routine."
- "Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.[…]One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished. Modern society may not have done anything about war. But peace is a lot more peaceful."
Etymology
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)).
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: rupta via
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɹuˈtin/
- British English: /ɹuːˈtiːn/