Habitualis

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Characterized by regular occurrence or the tendency to perform actions consistently over time
2. Describing behaviors or actions that are repeated habitually or routinely
3. Pertaining to established customs or practices that are consistently followed in a person's life

Etymology: "Habitualis" is a Latin adjective built from "habitus," the past participle of "habere," "to have" or "to hold." "Habitus" carried the sense of a condition or state in which someone is held, so "habitualis" came to mean relating to one's usual state or customary way of being. English took the word in the form "habitual," which is the same root that gives us "habit," "habitat," and "habitude." The English sense "done by habit" grows out of that Latin meaning. What was once a way of describing a person's settled condition became a way of describing an action repeated so often that it happens almost without thought. The word did not start out meaning "bad habit" or any moral failing; it only described regularity.