routine

[roo-teen] /ruˈtin/
noun
1.
a customary or regular course of procedure.
2.
commonplace tasks, chores, or duties as must be done regularly or at specified intervals; typical or everyday activity:
the routine of an office.
3.
regular, unvarying, habitual, unimaginative, or rote procedure.
4.
an unvarying and constantly repeated formula, as of speech or action; convenient or predictable response:
Don't give me that brotherly-love routine!
5.
Computers.
  1. a complete set of coded instructions directing a computer to perform a series of operations.
  2. a series of operations performed by the computer.
6.
an individual act, performance, or part of a performance, as a song or dance, given regularly by an entertainer:
a comic routine; a dance routine.
adjective
7.
of the nature of, proceeding by, or adhering to routine:
routine duties.
8.
dull or uninteresting; commonplace.
Origin
1670-80; < French, derivative of route route
Related forms
routinely, adverb
routineness, noun
nonroutine, adjective, noun
unroutine, adjective
unroutinely, adverb
Can be confused
regular, routine.
Synonyms
8. habitual, ordinary, typical.
Examples from the web for routines
  • Observances and the fear of disturbed routines, sacrifices and mysteries, dominated their minds.
  • He loved working with props, juggling everything from frying pans to vases, and he loved stretching out routines.
  • These may be small routines, but right now they're saving my sanity.
  • Yet the right plans and routines can make self-discipline an extremely easy thing to establish.
  • Software invokes these routines via similar routines.
  • Something else forgotten is that once you have utility routines written, they become imbedded in almost anything else you write.
  • Seeking social support and altering one's social and exercise routines can often help.
  • The bunching of supplementary innovations upsets all of the existing routines of market signalling.
  • Our programme enables people to change their activity levels by making small changes to their daily routines in a sustainable way.
  • But a president cannot change those rhythms and routines until he has first mastered them.
British Dictionary definitions for routines

routine

/ruːˈtiːn/
noun
1.
a usual or regular method of procedure, esp one that is unvarying
2.
(computing) a program or part of a program performing a specific function: an input routine, an output routine
3.
a set sequence of dance steps
4.
(informal) a hackneyed or insincere speech
adjective
5.
of, relating to, or characteristic of routine
Derived Forms
routinely, adverb
Word Origin
C17: from Old French, from route a customary way, route
Word Origin and History for routines

routine

n.

1670s, from French routine "usual course of action, beaten path" (16c.), from route "way, path, course" (see route (n.)) + noun suffix -ine (see -ine (1)). Theatrical or athletic performance sense is from 1926. The adjective is attested from 1817, from the noun. Related: Routinely.

Slang definitions & phrases for routines

routine

noun
  1. A passage of behavior; act; bit, riff, shtick: They did a Laurel and Hardy routine (1926+ Show business)
  2. An evasive or contrived response: I look for revelation and get routine (1950s+ Cool talk)