regular

regular adj 1 Regular, normal, typical, natural can all mean being of the sort or kind that is expected as usual, ordinary, or average.

A person or, more often, a thing is regular, as opposed to irregular, that conforms to what is the prescribed rule or standard or the established pattern for its kind

{

a regular verb

}

{

a regular meeting of a society

}

A person or a thing is normal, as opposed to abnormal or exceptional, that does not deviate in any marked way from what has been discovered or established as the norm (see norm under AVERAGE n) for one of its kind. In contrast with regular, normal carries a stronger implication of conformity within prescribed limits or under given conditions and therefore sometimes admits a wide range of difference among the things that may be described as normal for a class or kind

{

normal winter weather

}

{

a perfectly normal child physically as well as mentally

}

{

his pulse is normal for a person of his age

}

{

her intensity . . . would leave no emotion on a normal plane— D. H. Lawrence

}

When applied to persons, normal often specifically connotes mental balance or sanity

{

his actions are not those of a normal person

}

but it may connote merely an approach to the average in mentality, implying the exclusion of those below or above this average

{

the twins, since they had gone to Oxford, never admitted that they cared for any books that normal people cared for— Rose Macaulay

}

A person or thing is typical, as opposed to individual, that markedly exhibits the characters or characteristics identifying the type, class, species, or group to which he or it belongs, often to the exclusion or the obscuring of any that differentiate him or it individually

{

a typical example of Browning's style

}

{

I would suggest that the most typical, as it is probably the oldest of the arts, is the Dance— Binyon

}

{

peculiar to himself, not typical of Greek ideas— Dickinson

}

{

a typical English country town with wide High Street, narrow Market Street, picturesque Market Square— Mackenzie

}

A person or thing is natural (see also NATURAL 2) that acts, behaves, or operates in accordance with the nature or essence of his or its kind or constitution; the term also applies to what is normal in or suitable to one because of such nature or constitution

{

the father is the natural protector of his children

}

{

the natural love of a mother

}

{

flesh is the natural food of a dog

}

{

he died from natural causes

}

Analogous words: *usual, habitual, customary: *common, ordinary, familiar

Antonyms: irregular

2 *orderly, methodical, systematic, regular

Analogous words: fixed, set, settled (see SET): constant, even, equable, *steady, uniform

Antonyms: irregular