by rote
By memory, perhaps without true understanding of the topic. Ask Becky to recite the poem—she knows it by rote. Research shows that simply learning things by rote doesn't always translate into the best grasp of the material. I don't remember much about the plot of Frankenstein, but I do know by rote that "Frankenstein" is the name of the inventor, not the monster.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
by rote
[of learning or memorizing] done as habit and without thinking. I simply memorized the speech by rote. I don't know what it means. The student learns everything by rote and doesn't really understand the concepts.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
by rote
If you do something by rote, you do it without thinking about it or understanding it properly, often because you have learned about it by repeating it many times. It is easy to forget how much learning was done by rote in the past. He uses the same old lectures, delivered by rote.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012