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repetitive

UK/ɹɪˈpɛtɪtɪv/US/ɹɪˈpɛtɪtɪv/
adjectiveB2Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,207 of 15,258leans written

Repetitive means doing or saying the same thing again and again. Repetitive work, repetitive strain, repetitive and dull.

It is nearly always a complaint, which is what separates it from repeated. Repetitive strain injury is the standard term for damage from doing one small movement thousands of times, and it is the commonest workplace injury in office work.

Definitions of repetitive

  1. 1adjectiverepetitiveDoing or saying the same thing again and again.B2

    “Working on the assembly line was boring and repetitive.”

repetitive is a quality.

Where it comes from

Latin repetitus is the past participle of repetere, to seek again — re plus petere, to seek.

  1. Latin

    repetitus

  2. English, today

    repetitive

From Latin repetitus, with the suffix -ive.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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repetitive in the wild

  • Repeated sequences (also known as repetitive elements, repeating units or repeats) are short or long patterns that occur in multiple copies throughout the genome.

    Repeated sequence (DNA)

  • While some repeated DNA sequences are important for cellular functioning and genome maintenance, other repetitive sequences can be harmful.

    Repeated sequence (DNA)

  • Body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB) is an umbrella name for impulse-control behaviors involving compulsively damaging one's physical appearance or causing physical injury.

    Body-focused repetitive behavior

  • Simple repetitive songs are common in many cultures as widely spread as the Caribbean, Southern India and Finland.

    Repetitive song

  • Other repetitive songs are found, for instance, in African-American culture from the days of slavery.

    Repetitive song

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.