habitual

Meanings

1. 1adjectivebefore a noun

   Done regularly and almost without thinking, as part of someone's normal behavior.

   Grammar: Usually placed before the noun: his habitual walk home.

   She took her habitual seat by the window.

   His habitual calm helped the team during the crisis.

   Their habitual Sunday lunch lasted all afternoon.

2. 2adjectivebefore a noundisapproving

   Doing a particular thing again and again, often something bad, and finding it hard to stop.

   Grammar: Describes a person by a repeated action: a habitual liar.

   The court heard that he was a habitual offender.

   She is a habitual late-comer and rarely arrives on time.

   Habitual smokers often find it hard to quit.

Common combinations

habitual liar

He is a habitual liar, so nobody believes his stories.

habitual offender

The law is tougher on a habitual offender.

habitual behavior

Habitual behavior is hard to change overnight.

habitual user

A habitual user of the app checks it every hour.

habitual response

Her habitual response to criticism was silence.

Synonyms and how they differ

customary

Customary suggests a tradition or accepted way, while habitual suggests a personal pattern.

chronic

Chronic is for lasting problems, often medical, whereas habitual just means repeated by habit.

regular

Regular is neutral and means at fixed times, while habitual implies the action is automatic.

usual

Usual is the plain everyday word, while habitual sounds more formal and descriptive.

Opposites

Word family

habit noun

a repeated action that becomes automatic

habitually adverb

in a regular, repeated way

habituate verb

to make used to something

habituation noun

the process of becoming used to something

Commonly confused: habitual or habitable?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “habitual”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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