REGULARITY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does regularity mean? 

• REGULARITY (noun)
  The noun REGULARITY has 2 senses:

1. a property of polygons: the property of having equal sides and equal angles

2. the quality of being characterized by a fixed principle or rate

  Familiarity information: REGULARITY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REGULARITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A property of polygons: the property of having equal sides and equal angles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

geometrical regularity; regularity

Hypernyms ("regularity" is a kind of...):

balance; correspondence; symmetricalness; symmetry ((mathematics) an attribute of a shape or relation; exact reflection of form on opposite sides of a dividing line or plane)

Derivation:

regular (symmetrically arranged)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of being characterized by a fixed principle or rate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

he was famous for the regularity of his habits

Hypernyms ("regularity" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Attribute:

regular (in accordance with fixed order or procedure or principle)

irregular (contrary to rule or accepted order or general practice)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "regularity"):

cyclicity; periodicity (the quality of recurring at regular intervals)

methodicalness; orderliness (the quality of appreciating method and system)

uniformity (a condition in which everything is regular and unvarying)

evenness; invariability (a quality of uniformity and lack of variation)

even spacing (regularity of spacing)

steadiness (the quality of being steady--regular and unvarying)

Antonym:

irregularity (not characterized by a fixed principle or rate; at irregular intervals)

Derivation:

regular (in accord with regular practice or procedure)

regular (relating to a person who does something regularly)

regular (not deviating from what is normal)

regular (in accordance with fixed order or procedure or principle)

regular (conforming to a standard or pattern)

regular (occurring at fixed intervals)

regular (regularly scheduled for fixed times)

 Context examples 

For a fortnight, the Professor came and went with lover-like regularity.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

His life was irregular, but in one respect he was regularity itself.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“The regularity and despatch of it! If one thinks of all that it has to do, and all that it does so well, it is really astonishing!”

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I believe she was happy in her way: this routine sufficed for her; and nothing annoyed her so much as the occurrence of any incident which forced her to vary its clockwork regularity.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It was a monotonous life, operating with machine-like regularity.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Her lips were slightly parted, and her breast rose and fell with the regularity of a pendulum.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The effect of civilization is to impose human law upon environment until it becomes machine-like in its regularity.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I fondly explained to Dora that Jip should have his mutton-chop with his accustomed regularity.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Marianne's feelings had then broken in, and put an end to all regularity of detail; and for some time all that could be done was to soothe her distress, lessen her alarms, and combat her resentment.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The elegance, propriety, regularity, harmony, and perhaps, above all, the peace and tranquillity of Mansfield, were brought to her remembrance every hour of the day, by the prevalence of everything opposite to them here.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)