Habit - Definition and Overview

A habit is the usual condition or state of a person or thing, either natural or acquired, regarded as something had, possessed, and firmly retained. The term habit has at least three applications in English:

• A personal habit is one which shows a habitual routine that is not consciously considered.

The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread, but every time we repeat the act we strengthen the strand, add to it another filament, until it becomes a great cable and binds us irrevocably in thought and act. -Orison Swett Marden.

• Nuns' clothing.

• Monks' clothing.

• In botany, habit refers to the appearance or manner of growth of a plant. That a particular species is an annual, a tree, or a vine are descriptions of the plant's habit.

• In mineralogy, habit refers to the typical appearance of minerals. Various descriptive terms are used, such as acicular for the needle-like habit of rutile in quartz. See crystal habit.

External links

• The psychodynamics of habits (http://samvak.tripod.com/habit.html)