habitual

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Of or relating to a habit

   Of or relating to a habit; established as a habit; performed over and over again; recurrent, recurring.

   • Her habitual lying was the reason for my mistrust.
   • I vvas baptized in thy Cordiall vvater, againſt Original ſinne, and I haue drunke of thy Cordiall Blood, for my recouerie, from actuall, and habituall ſinne, in the other Sacrament.
2. 2

   Regular or usual.

   • Professor Franklein took his habitual seat at the conference table.
   • Our hearts are ſaid to be purified by faith; Acts 15. 9. not our lives onely in the acts of holineſſe and purity, but our heart in the habituall frame of them.
   • Now he [Edmund Bonner] was deprived, and had no more to doe with the Bishoprick of London, then with the Bishoprick of Conſtantinople, he had the habituall power of the Keies, but had no flock to exercise it upon.
3. 3

   Of a person or thing

   Of a person or thing: engaging in some behaviour as a habit or regularly.

   • He’s a habitual chain-smoker.
   • [N]o drunkard (i.e.) no Habituall, Impenitent drunkard, ſhall come into Gods Kingdome.
4. ›+ 3 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Pertaining to an action performed customarily, ordinarily, or usually.

      • In English, for instance, the Habitual Aspect (used to construction) can combine freely with Progressive Aspect, to give such forms as used to be playing.
   2. 5

      One who does something habitually, such as a serial criminal offender.

      • It has been suggested that we should classify prisoners as casuals and habituals. If a casual is to be distinguished from an habitual simply by the length of his sentence, this classification would hardly answer.
   3. 6

      A construction representing something done habitually.

      • Indeed, [Thomas] Givón (1994: 323) suggests the habitual is a 'hybrid modality', sharing some features of realis (higher assertive certainty) and some of irrealis ('lack of specific temporal reference; lack of specific evidence; …').
      • Stative verbs such as know and see are not associated with [+perf] since, like habituals, they are associated with a generic operator.

The neighborhood

• neighborhabit
• neighborhabit-forming
• neighborhabituate
• neighborhabituating
• neighborhabituation
• neighborhabituative
• neighborhabitude
• neighborhabitus