practice
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Alternative forms [edit]
- (Commonwealth) practise (used only for the verb)
Etymology [edit]
See practise.
Pronunciation [edit]
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Audio (US) (file)
Noun [edit]
practice (plural practices)
- Repetition of an activity to improve skill.
- He will need lots of practice with the lines before he performs them.
- (uncountable) The ongoing pursuit of a craft or profession, particularly in medicine or the fine arts.
- (countable) A place where a professional service is provided, such as a general practice.
- She ran a thriving medical practice.
- The observance of religious duties which a church requires of its members.
- 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.
- Actual operation or experiment, in contrast to theory.
- That may work in theory, but will it work in practice?
- (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]
- (improvement of skill): rehearsal, drill, exercise, training, workout
- (customary action): custom, habit, routine, wont, wone
- 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]
- general practice
- overpractice
- practice makes perfect
- practice what one preaches
- put into practice
- sharp practice
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
repetition of an activity to improve skill
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an ongoing pursuit of a craft or profession
an observance of religious duties
customary action, habit, or behavior
actual operation or experiment, in contrast to theory
- 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)
- (transitive, US) To repeat (an activity) as a way of improving one's skill in that activity.
- You should practice playing piano every day.
- (intransitive, US) To repeat an activity in this way.
- If you want to speak French well, you need to practice.
- (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.
- 2012 March-April, John T. Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 162:
- (transitive, US) To pursue (a career, especially law, fine art or medicine).
- She practiced law for forty years before retiring.
- (intransitive, archaic, US) To conspire.
- Alternative spelling of practise.
Usage notes [edit]
- In sense "to repeat an activity as a way improving one's skill" this is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
to repeat an activity as a way of improving one's skill
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to perform or execute a craft or skill
to perform or observe in a habitual fashion
to pursue (a career, especially law, fine art or medicine)
- 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.
Translations to be checked
Latin [edit]
Adjective [edit]
practice
- vocative masculine singular of practicus
