1. Plural of habitus; a person's characteristic physical appearance, bearing, or manner.
Usage: formal; often used in sociology and anthropology to describe ingrained social dispositions and behaviors
2. In sociology, the set of internalized social structures, habits, skills, and dispositions that shape how individuals perceive and act in the world.
Usage: academic; sociological term popularized by Pierre Bourdieu

Examples

• The different habituses of the two social classes were evident in their speech and posture.
• Bourdieu argued that habituses are formed through repeated exposure to social conditions.
• The habituses of the aristocracy differed markedly from those of the working class.
• Cultural habituses shape how people interpret and respond to their environment.
• Her refined habitus and graceful bearing impressed everyone at the gathering.
• The study examined how habituses are transmitted across generations within families.