wont
Word family
- wontedadjectiveC2
- unwontedadjectiveC2
Synonym discussion
Sense: noun/1
All four words refer to repeated actions, but they differ in scope and formality. 'Habit' is the most personal and often subconscious — a habit may be something you do without thinking, like biting your nails. 'Custom' leans social or cultural: a custom belongs to a group, community, or society, such as removing shoes before entering a home. 'Practice' sits between the two — it can be personal ('my practice of writing in a journal') or professional ('standard industry practice'), but it implies a conscious, repeated method. 'Tradition' covers customs passed across generations and carries emotional weight. The word 'wont' overlaps most closely with 'habit' and 'custom' but is reserved for formal writing. For example: 'As was his wont, he sipped tea at four o'clock' could be replaced by 'As was his habit…' in everyday speech, but not by 'As was his tradition…' (too grand) or 'As was his practice…' (too businesslike). In a sentence like 'The custom of bowing when greeting elders is widespread in many Asian cultures,' replacing 'custom' with 'wont' would sound unnatural.
Common collocations
Phrases
- as is/was one's wont
- true to one's wont
- follow one's wont
- be wont to do something
- as is wont to happen
Prepositions
- wont of (noun sense)
Etymology
The word 'wont' traces back to Old English 'gewuna', meaning 'custom' or 'habit', which is related to the verb 'wunian' ('to dwell, to remain, to be accustomed'). The sense of 'dwelling in a place' shifted to 'dwelling in a practice' — that is, doing something so regularly it feels like home. Through Middle English, 'wont' (spelled variously as 'wunet', 'wont', 'woont') came to be used as both a noun and an adjective. The verb form developed later, around the 16th century, and was always relatively rare. The word is cognate with German 'Gewohnheit' (habit) and Dutch 'gewoonte' (custom), both from the same Germanic root.