noun
ADJECTIVE
▪ annoying , antisocial ( BrE ), bad , dangerous , destructive , dirty , disconcerting ( BrE ), disgusting , filthy , horrible , irritating , nasty , poor , terrible , unfortunate
▪
Life has a nasty ~ of repeating itself.
▪
poor eating ~s
▪ charming ( often ironic ), endearing , good
▪
one of his more endearing ~s
▪
her charming ~ of setting fire to cats
▪ curious , eccentric , odd , peculiar , strange , unusual , weird
▪ unhealthy
▪
The children are developing unhealthy eating ~s.
▪ healthful ( AmE ), healthy
▪ lifelong , old
▪ daily , normal , regular , usual
▪ ingrained
▪
deeply ingrained ~s of thought
▪ nervous
▪
It was a nervous ~ she'd had for years.
▪ expensive
▪ personal , sexual , social
▪
I found some of his personal ~s rather disconcerting.
▪ lifestyle
▪
Healthy lifestyle ~s begin when you're young.
▪ mental
▪
Mental ~s are not easily changed.
▪ buying , shopping , spending
▪
an effort to change the buying ~s of the British public
▪ dietary , drinking , eating , feeding , food
▪ exercise , sleeping , work
▪
The pills affected your sleeping ~s.
▪
Ellington's work ~s were a marvel to all.
▪ reading , viewing
▪
women's television viewing ~s
▪ cocaine , crack , drug , gambling , heroin , smoking
▪
I'm trying to kick the smoking ~.
VERB + HABIT
▪ be in , have
▪
She had been in the ~ of drinking five or six cups of coffee a day.
▪
She has some very annoying ~s.
▪
He had an irritating ~ of singing tunelessly around the house.
▪ acquire , adopt , cultivate , develop , establish , fall into , form , get in , get into , make
▪
I had fallen into my old bad ~ of leaving everything until the last minute.
▪
Try to get into good ~s and eat regular healthy meals.
▪
Make a ~ of noting down any telephone messages.
▪ become
▪
Don't let eating between meals become a ~.
▪ break (yourself of) , get out of , give up , kick
▪
a difficult ~ to break
▪
You must break yourself of the ~.
▪
I got out of the ~ of getting up early.
▪ change
▪ support
▪
He turned to crime to support his ~.
HABIT + VERB
▪ change
▪
The nation's eating ~s have changed significantly.
PREPOSITION
▪ by ~
▪
Much of what we do in daily life is done by ~.
▪ from ~
▪
I just did it from ~.
▪ out of ~
▪
I sat in my old seat purely out of ~.
PHRASES
▪ a creature of ~
▪
Horses are creatures of ~ and like to have a daily routine.
▪ force of ~
▪
Mr Norris woke up early from force of ~.
▪ the ~ of a lifetime
▪
It's hard to change the ~ of a lifetime.
▪ a hard ~ to break
▪
Caffeine can be a hard ~ to break.
▪ old ~s die hard