- [countable] a thing that you do often and almost without thinking, especially something that is hard to stop doing
- You need to change your eating habits.
- good/bad habits
- Most of us have some undesirable habits.
- habit of doing something The strategy is helping children develop the habit of reading for fun.
- It's all right to borrow money occasionally, but don't let it become a habit.
- I'd prefer you not to make a habit of it.
- I'm trying to break the habit of staying up too late.
- These things have a habit of coming back to haunt you.
- in the habit of doing something I'm not in the habit of letting strangers into my apartment.
- I've got into the habit of turning on the TV as soon as I get home.
Extra Examples- She has some very annoying habits.
- He has the irritating habit of biting his nails.
- Healthy lifestyle habits begin when you're young.
- I found some of his personal habits rather disconcerting.
- I got out of the habit of getting up early.
- I had fallen into my old bad habit of leaving everything until the last minute.
- Make a habit of noting down any interesting ideas for songs.
- It was a nervous habit she'd had for years.
- It's hard to change the habit of a lifetime.
- Mental habits are not easily changed.
- The pills affected your sleeping habits.
- an effort to change the buying habits of the British public
- women's television viewing habits
- Life has a nasty habit of repeating itself.
- You must break yourself of the habit.
- one of his more endearing habits
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- annoying
- antisocial
- bad
- …
- be in
- have
- acquire
- …
- change
- by habit
- from habit
- out of habit
- …
- a creature of habit
- force of habit
- the habit of a lifetime
- …
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- [uncountable] usual behaviour
- out of habit I only do it out of habit.
- I'm a creature of habit (= I have a fixed and regular way of doing things).
Extra Examples- Mr Norris woke up early from force of habit.
- Much of what we do in daily life is done by habit.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- annoying
- antisocial
- bad
- …
- be in
- have
- acquire
- …
- change
- by habit
- from habit
- out of habit
- …
- a creature of habit
- force of habit
- the habit of a lifetime
- …
- [countable] (informal) a strong need to keep using drugs, alcohol or cigarettes regularly
- He began to finance his habit through burglary.
- She's tried to give up smoking but just can't kick the habit.
- a 50-a-day habit
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- annoying
- antisocial
- bad
- …
- be in
- have
- acquire
- …
- change
- by habit
- from habit
- out of habit
- …
- a creature of habit
- force of habit
- the habit of a lifetime
- …
- [countable] a long piece of clothing worn by a monk or nun
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French abit, habit, from Latin habitus ‘condition, appearance’, from habere ‘have, consist of’. The term originally meant ‘dress, attire’, later coming to denote physical or mental constitution.
Idioms
See habit in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee habit in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishforce of habit
- if you do something from or out of force of habit, you do it without thinking about it and in a particular way because you have always done it that way in the past
- It's force of habit that gets me out of bed at 6.15 each morning.
Check pronunciation:
habit