Meaning & use
routinely
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Meanings
adverbnot comparable
As a normal, regular part of a set procedure or habit, not as an exception.
Grammar: Usually goes before the main verb: routinely checked, routinely asked.
Patterns
- routinely check something
- routinely carried out
- routinely asked to do something
Pilots routinely check the weather before every flight.
The nurses routinely record each patient's temperature.
Passengers are routinely asked to show identification.
adverbnot comparabledisapproving
Very often and so regularly that it has become unremarkable, sometimes suggesting a bad habit.
Grammar: Often used with a critical edge about things that should not be so common.
Patterns
- routinely fail to do something
- routinely ignore something
The company routinely ignores customer complaints.
He routinely arrives late and apologizes with a shrug.
Rules are routinely broken during the final days of term.
Common combinations
- routinely check
- Mechanics routinely check the brakes during a service.
- routinely carried out
- These tests are routinely carried out in hospitals.
- routinely used
- The tool is routinely used by designers.
- routinely ignore
- Drivers routinely ignore the speed limit on that road.
- routinely monitored
- Water quality is routinely monitored by the city.
- routinely offered
- Vaccinations are routinely offered to schoolchildren.
Synonyms and how they differ
- regularly
- Regularly means at steady intervals, while routinely adds that it happens as part of an established procedure.
- habitually
- Habitually describes a personal habit, often a person's own, whereas routinely suggests a system or procedure.
- customarily
- Customarily points to tradition or custom, while routinely points to repeated practice.
- usually
- Usually means most of the time and allows exceptions, but routinely suggests a settled pattern.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: routinely or regularly? routinely or constantly?
routinely vs regularly
Both mean often, but regularly stresses even spacing in time, and routinely stresses being part of normal procedure.
routinely vs constantly
Constantly means without stopping, which is stronger than routinely.
Practice
Airport staff ___ screen every bag, as part of the standard procedure.
Choose one answer.
Routinely means as a normal part of procedure. Rarely, accidentally, and reluctantly do not fit a standard security process.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “routinely”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.