Adjacent Words

Practice definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PRAC'TICE, n. [Gr. to act, to do, to make; Eng. to brook, and broker; L. fruor, for frugor or frucor, whence fructus, contracted into fruit; frequens.]
1. Frequent or customary actions; a succession of acts of a similar kind or in a like employment; as the practice of rising early or of dining late; the practice of reading a portion of Scripture morning and evening; the practice of making regular entries of accounts; the practice of virtue or vice. Habit is the effect of practice.
2. Use; customary use.
Obsolete words may be revived when the are more sounding or significant than those in practice.
3. Dexterity acquired by use. [Unusual.]
4. Actual performance; distinguished from theory.
There are two functions of the soul, contemplation and practice, according to the general division of objects, some of which only entertain our speculations, others employ our actions.
5. Application of remedies; medical treatment of diseases. Tow physicians may differ widely in their practice.
6. Exercise of any profession; as the practice of law or of medicine; the practice of arms.
7. Frequent use; exercise for instruction or discipline. The troops are daily called out for practice.
8. Skillful or artful management; dexterity in contrivance or the use of means; art; stratagem; artifice; usually in a bad sense.
He sought to have that by practice which he could not by prayer.
[This use of the word is genuine; from L. experior. It is not a mistake as Johnson supposes. See the Verb.]
9. A rule in arithmetic, by which the operations of the general rules are abridged in use.
PRAC'TICE, v.t. [From the noun. The orthography of the verb ought to be the same as of the noun; as in notice and to notice.]
1. To do or perform frequently, customarily or habitually; to perform by a succession of acts; as, to practice gaming; to practice fraud or deception; to practice the virtues of charity and beneficence; to practice hypocrisy. Isaiah 32.
Many praise virtue who do not practice it.
2. To use or exercise any profession or art; as, to practice law or medicine; to practice gunnery or surveying.
3. To use or exercise for instruction, discipline or dexterity. [In this sense, the verb is usually intransitive.]
4. To commit; to perpetrate; as the horrors practiced at Wyoming.
5. To use; as a practiced road. [Unusual.]
PRAC'TICE, v.i. To perform certain acts frequently or customarily, either for instruction, profit, or amusement; as, to practice with the broad sword; to practice with the rifle.
1. To form a habit of acting in any manner.
They shall practice how to live secure.
2. To transact or negotiate secretly.
I have practic'd with him,
And found means to let the victor know
That Syphax and Sempronius are his friends.
3. To try artifices.
Others, by guilty artifice and arts
Of promis'd kindness, practic'd on our hearts.
4. To use evil arts or stratagems.
If you there
Did practice on my state--
5. To use medical methods or experiments.
I am little inclined to practice on others,and as little that others should practice on me.
6. To exercise any employment or profession. A physician has practiced many years with success.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a customary way of operation or behavior; "it is their practice to give annual raises"; "they changed their dietary pattern" [syn: practice, pattern]
2: systematic training by multiple repetitions; "practice makes perfect" [syn: exercise, practice, drill, practice session, recitation]
3: translating an idea into action; "a hard theory to put into practice"; "differences between theory and praxis of communism" [syn: practice, praxis]
4: the exercise of a profession; "the practice of the law"; "I took over his practice when he retired"
5: knowledge of how something is usually done; "it is not the local practice to wear shorts to dinner" v
1: carry out or practice; as of jobs and professions; "practice law" [syn: practice, practise, exercise, do]
2: learn by repetition; "We drilled French verbs every day"; "Pianists practice scales" [syn: drill, exercise, practice, practise]
3: engage in a rehearsal (of) [syn: rehearse, practise, practice]
4: avail oneself to; "apply a principle"; "practice a religion"; "use care when going down the stairs"; "use your common sense"; "practice non-violent resistance" [syn: practice, apply, use]
5: engage in or perform; "practice safe sex"; "commit a random act of kindness" [syn: commit, practice]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb also practise (practiced; also practised; practicing; also practising) Etymology: Middle English practisen, from Middle French practiser, from Medieval Latin practizare, alteration of practicare, from practica practice, noun, from Late Latin practice, from Greek praktik?, from feminine of praktikos Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. a. carry out, apply <practice what you preach> b. to do or perform often, customarily, or habitually <practice politeness> c. to be professionally engaged in <practice medicine> 2. a. to perform or work at repeatedly so as to become proficient <practice the act> b. to train by repeated exercises <practice pupils in penmanship> 3. obsolete plot intransitive verb 1. to do repeated exercises for proficiency 2. to pursue a profession actively 3. archaic intrigue 4. to do something customarily 5. to take advantage of someone <he practised on their credulity with huge success — Times Literary Supplement> • practicer noun II. noun also practise Date: 15th century 1. a. actual performance or application <ready to carry out in practice what they advocated in principle> b. a repeated or customary action <had this irritating practice> c. the usual way of doing something <local practices> d. the form, manner, and order of conducting legal suits and prosecutions 2. a. systematic exercise for proficiency <practice makes perfect> b. the condition of being proficient through systematic exercise <get in practice> 3. a. the continuous exercise of a profession b. a professional business; especially one constituting an incorporeal property Synonyms: see habit

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 habitual action or performance (the practice of teaching; makes a practice of saving). 2 a habit or custom (has been my regular practice). 3 a repeated exercise in an activity requiring the development of skill (to sing well needs much practice). b a session of this (time for target practice). 4 action or execution as opposed to theory. 5 the professional work or business of a doctor, lawyer, etc. (has a practice in town). 6 an established method of legal procedure. 7 procedure generally, esp. of a specified kind (bad practice). --v.tr. & intr. US var. of PRACTISE. Phrases and idioms: in practice 1 when actually applied; in reality. 2 skilful because of recent exercise in a particular pursuit. out of practice lacking a former skill from lack of recent practice. put into practice actually apply (an idea, method, etc.). Etymology: ME f. PRACTISE, after advice, device

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Practice Prac"tice, n. [OE. praktike, practique, F. pratique, formerly also, practique, LL. practica, fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? practical. See Practical, and cf. Pratique, Pretty.] 1. Frequently repeated or customary action; habitual performance; a succession of acts of a similar kind; usage; habit; custom; as, the practice of rising early; the practice of making regular entries of accounts; the practice of daily exercise.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Practice Prac"tice, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Practiced; p. pr. & vb. n. Practicing.] [Often written practise, practised, practising.] 1. To do or perform frequently, customarily, or habitually; to make a practice of; as, to practice gaming. ``Incline not my heart . . . practice wicked works.''

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Practice Prac"tice, v. i. [Often written practise.] 1. To perform certain acts frequently or customarily, either for instruction, profit, or amusement; as, to practice with the broadsword or with the rifle; to practice on the piano.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(practices) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. You can refer to something that people do regularly as a practice. Some firms have cut workers' pay below the level set in their contract, a practice that is illegal in Germany... Gordon Brown has demanded a public inquiry into bank practices. N-COUNT 2. Practice means doing something regularly in order to be able to do it better. A practice is one of these periods of doing something. She was taking all three of her daughters to basketball practice every day... The defending world racing champion recorded the fastest time in a final practice today. N-VAR: usu supp N 3. The work done by doctors and lawyers is referred to as the practice of medicine and law. People's religious activities are referred to as the practice of a religion. ...the practice of internal medicine... I eventually realized I had to change my attitude toward medical practice. N-UNCOUNT: with supp 4. A doctor's or lawyer's practice is his or her business, often shared with other doctors or lawyers. The new doctor's practice was miles away from where I lived... N-COUNT 5. see also practise 6. What happens in practice is what actually happens, in contrast to what is supposed to happen. ...the difference between foreign policy as presented to the public and foreign policy in actual practice... In practice, workers do not work to satisfy their needs. PHRASE: PHR with cl 7. If something such as a procedure is normal practice or standard practice, it is the usual thing that is done in a particular situation. It is normal practice not to reveal details of a patient's condition... The transcript is full of codewords, which is standard practice in any army. PHRASE: v-link PHR 8. If you are out of practice at doing something, you have not had much experience of it recently, although you used to do it a lot or be quite good at it. 'How's your German?'—'Not bad, but I'm out of practice.' PHRASE: v-link PHR 9. If you put a belief or method into practice, you behave or act in accordance with it. Now that he is back, the prime minister has another chance to put his new ideas into practice... PHRASE: V inflects

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Custom, habit, wont, frequent repetition. 2. Use, usage, customary course. 3. Acting out, actual performance, doing, habitual doing. 4. Exercise (as of a profession), pursuit, application. 5. Exercise, drill, habitual performance (for skill's sake), constant exercise or use. 6. Actions, acts, behavior, conduct, proceeding, dealing.

Moby Thesaurus

Gedankenexperiment, MO, accordance, acquittal, acquittance, act, acting, action, actions, activism, activity, acts, actually, addition, address, adherence, affectation, agency, air, algorithm, application, apprentice, apprenticeship, approach, approximation, art, assay, athletics, attack, audition, automatism, background, bad habit, basic training, battologize, be about, be doing, be engaged in, be occupied with, be responsible for, bearing, behave, behavior, behavior pattern, behavioral norm, behavioral science, bench test, blaseness, bon ton, bone, boning, brainwork, break, break in, breaking, breather, breed, breeding, bring to test, bring up, business, cabal, calisthenics, calling, care, career, career building, careerism, carriage, carry into execution, carry on, carry out, carry through, carrying out, ceremonial, ceremony, characteristic, compliance, comportment, con, condition, conditioning, conduct, confirm, conformance, conformity, conning, conspiracy, constitutional, consuetude, contemplate, contemplation, convenance, convention, course, covin, craft, cram, cramming, creature of habit, cultivate, cultivation, culture pattern, custom, cut and try, daily dozen, deal with, demeanor, deportment, develop, development, differentiation, dig, direct, direction, discharge, discipline, division, do, do with, doing, doings, drill, drilling, drive, driving, dry run, duty, elucubrate, employ, employment, engage in, engrossment, equation, essay, established way, etiquette, evolution, examine, execute, execution, exercise, exercising, exert, experience, experiment, extensive study, extrapolation, fashion, fetch up, fetching-up, fill, fit, flight test, folkway, follow, force of habit, form, form of worship, formality, formula, formulary, foster, fostering, fulfill, fulfillment, function, functioning, game, gestures, give a try, give a tryout, give an encore, go in for, go over, go through, goings-on, grind, grinding, groom, grooming, guise, gymnastic exercises, gymnastics, habit, habit pattern, habitude, handicraft, handle, handling, have a go, headwork, hearing, heed, heeding, holy rite, house-train, housebreak, housebreaking, improve, improvement, in practice, in-service training, inexperienced, inspection, institution, integration, interpolation, intrigue, inversion, involution, isometrics, iterate, keeping, lick into shape, lifework, line, line of action, line of business, line of work, lines, liturgy, lucubrate, lucubration, machination, maintien, make, make go, make use of, manage, management, maneuver, manipulate, manipulation, manner, manner of working, manners, manual training, means, mental labor, method, methodology, methods, metier, mien, military training, mission, mode, mode of operation, mode of procedure, mode of worship, modus operandi, modus vivendi, mores, motions, move, movements, moves, multiplication, mystery, notation, number, nurse, nurture, nurturing, observable behavior, observance, observation, occupation, office, on-the-job training, operancy, operate, operation, operations, order, order of worship, ordinance, pad, past experience, pattern, peculiarity, perform, perform on, performance, performing, perusal, peruse, physical education, physical jerks, pilot, pilot plan, play, play around with, plunge into, ply, poise, pore over, port, pose, posture, practical knowledge, practical test, practically, practice upon, praxis, preparation, prepare, prescribed form, prescription, presence, procedure, proceed, proceeding, process, profession, proper thing, proportion, prosecute, prove, pursue, pursuit, put in tune, put to school, put to trial, racket, raise, raising, read, reading, ready, readying, reaffirm, realistically, rear, rearing, reassert, recapitulate, recite, recount, reduction, regard studiously, rehash, rehearsal, rehearse, reissue, reiterate, repeat, repetition, reprint, research, respect, responsibility, restate, restudy, restudying, resume, retail, retell, review, reword, rite, ritual, ritual observance, rituality, road test, road-test, routine, rule, run, run a sample, run over, run through, running, rusty, sacrament, sacramental, sagacity, sample, satisfaction, say over, say over again, scheme, seasoning, second nature, see to, send to school, serve, service, setting-up exercises, shake down, shakedown, shakedown cruise, sloyd, social convention, social science, solemnity, sophistication, specialization, specialize in, specialty, standard behavior, standard usage, standing custom, steer, steering, stereotype, stereotyped behavior, stretch, study, studying, style, subject, substantiate, subtraction, sum up, summarize, swing, swot, swotting, system, tackle, tactics, take care of, take in hand, take on, take to, take up, taste, tautologize, technic, technique, tempering, test, test flight, test run, the drill, the how, the way of, time-honored practice, tone, trade, tradition, train, training, transformation, trial run, trick, try, try it on, try out, tryout, unaccustomed, undertake, upbringing, usage, use, usefulness, utility, utilize, validate, verify, vet, vocation, vocational education, vocational training, wade through, wage, walk, walk of life, warm-up, way, way of life, ways, what is done, wide reading, wield, wise, wont, wonting, work, work at, working, workings, workout, worldly wisdom, yoga