Link Centre Dictionary

habitual

ha·bi·tual

UK/həˈbɪ.tʃʊ.əl/ US/həˈbɪ.tʃwəl/ uncommon

adjective

1.

made a norm or custom or habit

  • “his habitual practice was to eat an early supper”
  • “her habitual neatness”
Similar
2.

commonly used or practiced; usual

  • “his accustomed thoroughness”
  • “took his customary morning walk”
  • “his habitual comment”
  • “with her wonted candor”
Synonyms
Similar
3.

having a habit of long standing

  • “a chronic smoker”
Synonyms
Similar

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.

Phrases

  • habitual aborter
  • habitual abortion
  • habitual aspect
  • habitual be
  • habitual offender

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.