habitude means the essential character of one's being or existence; native or normal constitution; mental or moral constitution; bodily condition; native temperament. It carries an Arena rating of 1460, earned across 7 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, habitude ranks #2,106 of 17,123 for Most Malleable Words, #5,202 of 17,120 for Most Beautiful Words, #5,354 of 17,114 for Most Satisfying to Say, #6,080 of 17,116 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
habitude is pronounced /ˈhæbɪˌtjuːd/.
Why “habitude” is a great word
A person's habitual or characteristic mode of behavior, disposition, or mental constitution. From Middle English habitude, from Middle French habitude, from Latin habitūdō ("condition, habit, appearance"), from habeō ("to have, hold, keep"). Unlike "habit," which denotes a specific, often automatic, repeated action, or "custom," which implies a practice established by long communal usage, habitude speaks to the deeper, personal substrate from which actions flow: one's ingrained temperament and manner of being. It is the particular slant of a shoulder in repose, the unthinking way one stirs a cup of tea, the unconscious tilt of the head with which certain people greet bad news—the quiet sum of a thousand small rehearsals that, in the end, performs only you.
Etymology
From Middle English habitude, from Middle French habitude, from Latin habitūdō (“condition, plight, habit, appearance”), from habeō (“to have, hold, keep”).
noun
- The essential character of one's being or existence; native or normal constitution; mental or moral constitution; bodily condition; native temperament.e.g.“His real habitude gave life and grace / To appertainings and to ornament.”
- Habitual disposition; normal or characteristic mode of behaviour, whether from habit or from nature
- Behaviour or manner of existence in relation to something else; relation; respect.
- In full habitude: fully, wholly, entirely; in all respects.e.g.“Although I believe not the report in full habitude.”
- habitual association; familiar relation; acquaintance; familiarity; intimacy; association; intercourse.e.g.“The discourse of some with whom I have had some habitudes since my coming home.”
- an associate; an acquaintance; someone with whom one is familiar.e.g.“La Corneus and Sallyes were the only habitudes we had.”
- Habit; custom; usage.e.g.“Which […] by long habitude, are thought rather vertue than vice among them.”
- The various ways in which one substance reacts with another; chemical reaction.e.g.“Most authors who have had occasion to describe naphthaline, have noticed its habitudes with sulphuric acid.”
Words closest in meaning
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