practice

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Contents

English [edit]

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Alternative forms [edit]

  • (Commonwealth) practise (used only for the verb)

Etymology [edit]

See practise.

Pronunciation [edit]

  • (file)

Noun [edit]

practice (plural practices)

  1. Repetition of an activity to improve skill.
    He will need lots of practice with the lines before he performs them.
  2. (uncountable) The ongoing pursuit of a craft or profession, particularly in medicine or the fine arts.
  3. (countable) A place where a professional service is provided, such as a general practice.
    She ran a thriving medical practice.
  4. The observance of religious duties which a church requires of its members.
  5. A customary action, habit, or behavior; a manner or routine.
    It is the usual practice of employees there to wear neckties only when meeting with customers.
    It is good practice to check each door and window before leaving.
  6. Actual operation or experiment, in contrast to theory.
    That may work in theory, but will it work in practice?
  7. (law) synonym for "practice of law" or the methods and procedures appurtenant thereto, particularly with regard to special actions such as "motion practice", "trail practice", etc. Also with regard to specialties, eg., "family law practice", "media law practice"

Usage notes [edit]

British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand English distinguish between practice (a noun) and practise (a verb), analogously with advice/advise. In American English, practice is commonly used for both forms, and this is also common in Canada.

Synonyms [edit]

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. Use the template {{sense|"gloss"}}, substituting a short version of the definition for "gloss".

Derived terms [edit]

Related terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Verb [edit]

practice (third-person singular simple present practices, present participle practicing, simple past and past participle practiced)

  1. (transitive, US)   To repeat (an activity) as a way of improving one's skill in that activity.
    You should practice playing piano every day.
  2. (intransitive, US)   To repeat an activity in this way.
    If you want to speak French well, you need to practice.
  3. (transitive, US)   To perform or observe in a habitual fashion.
    • 2012 March-April, John T. Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 162: 
      He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record. With this biological framework in place, Corning endeavors to show that the capitalist system as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere is manifestly unfair.
    They gather to practice religion every Saturday.
  4. (transitive, US)   To pursue (a career, especially law, fine art or medicine).
    She practiced law for forty years before retiring.
  5. (intransitive, archaic, US)   To conspire.
  6. Alternative spelling of practise.

Usage notes [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Latin [edit]

Adjective [edit]

practice

  1. vocative masculine singular of practicus