habitualize

English

Alternative forms

• habitualise

Etymology

habitual +‎ -ize

Verb

habitualize (third-person singular simple present habitualizes, present participle habitualizing, simple past and past participle habitualized)

1. (US, law) To classify as a habitual offender (which has implications for sentencing).
   • 2019, Marc L. Miller, Ronald F. Wright, Criminal Procedures: Prosecution and Adjudication, page 152:

     Third, in all but two circuits [those encompassing Miami and Sarasota], the habitual offender sanctions are much more likely to be used against black offenders than non-black offenders, even after adjusting for prior record, the nature of the current offense and a variety of other factors that might have a bearing on the decision to habitualize.

2. To make habitual.
   • 1973, Earl Ubell, How to save your life, page 68:

     The real secret of exercise is to habitualize it, to make it as automatic as eating lunch.

3. To cause to treat something as habitual; to familiarize or accustom.
   • 1993, S. Allen Chambers, Poplar Forest and Thomas Jefferson:

     I was much pleased too that Francis was placed at school at Lynchburg, as, besides giving me opportunities of seeing him, it will habitualize him to the neighborhood, and give him those early attachments of friendship and acquaintance which carry their impression and value through life.