Drill
Drill noun - An established and often automatic or monotonous series of actions followed when engaging in some activity.
Usage example: shuttling the kids between extracurricular activities is all part of the suburban drill
Routine is a synonym for drill in practice topic. In some cases you can use "Routine" instead a noun "Drill", when it comes to topics like procedure.
Routine
Routine noun - An established and often automatic or monotonous series of actions followed when engaging in some activity.
Usage example: part of my morning routine is drinking a cup of coffee while reading the newspaper
Drill is a synonym for routine in practice topic. You can use "Drill" instead a noun "Routine", if it concerns topics such as procedure, habitual activity.
Nearby Word: routinely
How words are described
Both words in one sentence
- Similarly, the legendary mistranslation of "Must be another drill" in the Finnish TV broadcast of Star Wars as "Ehkä se on pora," referring to the hole-making tool rather than a training routine.
Source: Blind Idiot Translation / Film - He meets a deaf-mute woman who was busy doing a gymnastics routine when the drill happened and also assumed the world ended.
Source: Mistaken for Apocalypse -
Unfortunately for him, Graff isn't doing the Drill Sergeant Nasty routine, he's doing a new routine where he praises Ender and tells the others how insignificant they are compared to him.
Source: Literature / Ender's Game
Cite this Source
Routine and Drill. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 15, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/drill/routine
Drill & Routine. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/drill/routine>.
Routine or Drill. 2016. Accessed August 15, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/drill/routine.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "drill" and "routine" have occurred on timeline