practise
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- practice (US)
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English practizen, a variant of practisen, from Middle French pratiser, practiser, from Medieval Latin practizo, from Late Latin practico (“to do, perform, execute, propose, practise, exercise, be conversant with, contrive, conspire, etc.”), from prāctica (“practical affairs", "business”), from Ancient Greek πρᾱκτική (prāktikḗ), from πρᾱκτικός (prāktikós, “practical”), from πρᾱ́σσειν (prā́ssein, “to do”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
practise (third-person singular simple present practises, present participle practising, simple past and past participle practised)
- (transitive) To repeat (an activity) as a way of improving one's skill in that activity.
- You should practise playing piano every day.
- (intransitive) To repeat an activity in this way.
- If you want to speak French well, you need to practise.
- (transitive) To perform or observe in a habitual fashion.
- They gather to practise religion every Saturday.
- 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 39:
- Hydromancy was extensively practised by the Egyptian priests and sorcerers[.]
- 2012 March-April, John T. Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, in American Scientist[1], 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.
- (transitive) To pursue (a career, especially law, fine art or medicine).
- She practised law for forty years before retiring.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To conspire.
- To put into practice; to carry out; to act upon; to commit; to execute; to do.
- 1591, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iii]:
- Aught but Talbot's shadow whereon to practise your severity.
- 1715, Homer; [Alexander] Pope, transl., “Book VII”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], OCLC 670734254:
- As this advice ye practise or neglect.
- To make use of; to employ.
- 1629, Philip Massinger and Nathan Field, The Picture
- In malice to this good knight's wife, I practised Ubaldo and Ricardo to corrupt her.
- 1629, Philip Massinger and Nathan Field, The Picture
- To teach or accustom by practice; to train.
- 1828, Walter Savage Landor, “Lord Brooke and Sir Philip Sidney”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 719445219:
- In church they are taught to love God; after church they are practised to love their neighbour.
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.
- British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and South African English spelling distinguishes between practice (a noun) and practise (a verb), analogously with advice and advise. In American English, the spelling practice is commonly used for both noun and verb.
Derived terms[edit]
Related 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
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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 Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading[edit]
- practise in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- practise in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Noun[edit]
practise (plural practises)
- Misspelling of practice.
Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Medieval Latin
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with quotations
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- English misspellings