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programmatic

/ˌproʊgrəˈmætɪk/
IPA guide

Anything that's scheduled or planned is programmatic, like the programmatic commercials that interrupt your favorite network TV show just when things are getting suspenseful.

This adjective can describe things that seem planned out or programmed, rather than spontaneous: "The tour was so programmatic — it felt like our guide had repeated the exact same words a hundred times." Sometimes it means "deliberate and methodical," like the programmatic bombing of a city during wartime. But it's also used for a kind of music that tells a story using instruments instead of words, like Prokofiev's famous programmatic composition Peter and the Wolf.

Definitions of programmatic
  1. adjective
    relating or according to a plan, system, schedule, or method
  2. adjective
    relating to automated control of processes in computing
  3. adjective
    relating to music that tells a story without words
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