English
regular
Etymology

From Middle English reguler, from Anglo-Norman reguler, Middle French reguler, regulier, and their source, Latin rēgulāris, from rēgula, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *reg-.

Pronunciation
  • (British) enPR: regʹyo͝olər IPA: /ˈɹɛɡ.jʊ.lə/
  • (US) enPR: regʹyələr, regʹlər, IPA: /ˈɹɛɡ.jə.lɚ/, /ˈɹɛɡ.l̩ɚ/, [ˈɹɛɡ.jɪ̈.lɚ], [ˈɹɛɡ.l̩ɚ]
  • (America) Hyphenation: reg‧u‧lar
Adjective

regular

  1. (Christianity) Bound by religious rule; belonging to a monastic or religious order (often as opposed to secular). [from 14th c.]
    regular clergy, in distinction from the secular clergy
  2. Having a constant pattern; showing evenness of form or appearance. [from 15th c.]
    Synonyms: equable, uniform, unvarying, Thesaurus:steady
    Antonyms: chaotic, irregular, Thesaurus:unsteady
  3. (geometry, of a polygon) Both equilateral and equiangular; having all sides of the same length, and all (corresponding) angles of the same size [from 16th c.]
  4. (geometry, of a polyhedron) Whose faces are all congruent regular polygons, equally inclined to each other.
  5. Demonstrating a consistent set of rules; showing order, evenness of operation or occurrence. [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: in order, ruly, tidy, Thesaurus:orderly
    Antonyms: chaotic, tumultuous, Thesaurus:disorderly
  6. (astronomy) Of a moon or other satellite: following a relatively close and prograde orbit with little inclination or eccentricity.
  7. (now, rare) Well-behaved, orderly; restrained (of a lifestyle etc.). [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: decent, seemly, well-mannered
    Antonyms: degenerate, irregular
  8. Happening at constant (especially short) intervals. [from 17th c.]
    Synonyms: cyclical, frequent, Thesaurus:periodic
    Antonyms: irregular, noncyclic
    He made regular visits to go see his mother.
  9. (grammar, of a verb, plural, etc) Following a set or common pattern; according to the normal rules of a given language. [from 17th c.]
    Synonyms: weak
    Antonyms: irregular, strong
    "Walked" is the past tense of the regular verb "to walk".
  10. (chiefly, US) Having the expected characteristics or appearances; normal, ordinary, standard. [from 17th c.]
    Synonyms: basic, common, unremarkable, Thesaurus:normal, Thesaurus:common
    Antonyms: irregular, outlandish, weird, Thesaurus:strange
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
      For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.
  11. (chiefly, military) Permanently organised; being part of a set professional body of troops. [from 17th c.]
    Antonyms: irregular
  12. Having bowel movements or menstrual periods at constant intervals in the expected way. [from 18th c.]
    Maintaining a high-fibre diet keeps you regular.
  13. (colloquial) Exemplary; excellent example of; utter, downright. [from 18th c.]
    Synonyms: absolute, thorough, unalloyed, Thesaurus:total
    a regular genius; a regular John Bull
  14. (botany, zoology) Having all the parts of the same kind alike in size and shape.
    a regular flower; a regular sea urchin
  15. (crystallography) Isometric.
  16. (snowboarding) Riding with the left foot forward.
    Antonyms: goofy
  17. (analysis, not comparable, of a Borel measure) Such that every set in its domain is both outer regular and inner regular.
  18. (commutative algebra, not comparable, of a local ring) noetherian and such that the minimal number of generators of the maximal ideal is equal to the Krull dimension of the ring.
  19. (algebraic geometry, not comparable, of a scheme) Such that the local ring at every point is regular.
  20. (obsolete, not comparable, of a ring) Von Neumann regular ring: such that every left module (over the given ring) is flat.
    Synonyms: absolutely flat
Antonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Adverb

regular (not comparable)

  1. (archaic, dialect, nonstandard) Regularly, on a regular basis.
    • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
      Though no minister would visit the Skerburnfoot, or, if he went, departed quicker than he came, the girl Ailie attended regular at the catechising at the mains of Sker.
Noun

regular (plural regulars)

  1. A member of the British Army (as opposed to a member of the Territorial Army or Reserve).
  2. A frequent, routine visitor to an establishment.
    Bartenders usually know their regulars by name.
  3. A member of an armed forces or police force.
  4. A frequent customer, client or business partner.
    This gentleman was one of the architect's regulars.
  5. (Canada) A coffee with one cream and one sugar.
  6. Anything that is normal or standard.
    • 2011, Jamie MacLennan, ZhaoHui Tang, Bogdan Crivat, Data Mining with Microsoft SQL Server 2008:
      You separate the marbles by color until you have four groups, but then you notice that some of the marbles are regulars, some are shooters, and some are peewees.
  7. A member of a religious order who has taken the three ordinary vows.
  8. A number for each year, giving, added to the concurrents, the number of the day of the week on which the Paschal full moon falls.
  9. A fixed number for each month serving to ascertain the day of the week, or the age of the moon, on the first day of any month.
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Translations

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