n.
- A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition.
- An established disposition of the mind or character.
- Customary manner or practice: a person of ascetic habits.
- An addiction, especially to a narcotic drug.
- Physical constitution.
- Characteristic appearance, form, or manner of growth, especially of a plant or crystal.
- A distinctive dress or costume, especially of a religious order.
- A riding habit.
To clothe; dress.
[Middle English, clothing, from Old French, clothing, behavior, custom, from Latin habitus, from past participle of habēre, to have.]
SYNONYMS habit, practice, custom, usage, use, wont, habitude. These nouns denote patterns of behavior established by continual repetition. Habit applies to a behavior or practice so ingrained that it is often done without conscious thought: "Habit rules the unreflecting herd" (William Wordsworth). Practice denotes an often chosen pattern of individual or group behavior: "You will find it a very good practice always to verify your references, sir" (Martin Joseph Routh). Custom is behavior as established by long practice and especially by accepted conventions: "No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion" (Carrie Chapman Catt). Usage refers to an accepted standard for a group that regulates individual behavior: "laws ... corrected, altered, and amended by acts of parliament and common usage" (William Blackstone). Use and wont are terms for customary and distinctive practice: "situations where the use and wont of their fathers no longer meet their necessities" (J.A. Froude). Habitude refers to an individual's behaving in a certain way rather than a specific act: "His real habitude gave life and grace/To appertainings and to ornament" (Shakespeare).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
