[ad hok; Lat. ahd hohk] Pronunciation Key | 1. | for the special purpose or end presently under consideration: a committee formed ad hoc to deal with the issue. |
| 2. | concerned or dealing with a specific subject, purpose, or end: The ad hoc committee disbanded after making its final report. |
] Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
| ad hoc
(ād hŏk', hōk') Pronunciation Key
adv. For the specific purpose, case, or situation at hand and for no other: a committee formed ad hoc to address the issue of salaries. adj.
[Latin : ad, to + hoc, neuter accusative of hic, this.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
ad hoc
| ad hoc | |
adjective | |
| 1. | often improvised or impromptu; "an ad hoc committee meeting" |
| 2. | for or concerned with one specific purpose; "a coordinated policy instead of ad hoc decisions" |
adverb | |
| 1. | for one specific case; "they were appointed ad hoc" |
ad hoc
For the special purpose or end at hand; also, by extension, improvised or impromptu. The term, Latin for "to this," is most often used for committees established for a specific purpose, as in The committee was formed ad hoc to address health insurance problems. The term is also used as an adjective (An ad hoc committee was formed), and has given rise to the noun adhocism for the tendency to use temporary, provisional, or improvised methods to deal with a particular problem. [Early 1600s]
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
ad hoc [(ad hok, ad hohk)]
A phrase describing something created especially for a particular occasion: “We need an ad hoc committee to handle this new problem immediately.” From Latin, meaning “toward this (matter).”
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Main Entry: 1ad hoc
Pronunciation: 'ad-'häk, -'hOk; 'äd-'hOk
Function: adverb
Etymology: Latin, for this
: for the particular end or case at hand without consideration of wider application
Main Entry: 2ad hoc
Function: adjective
1 : concerned with a particular end or purpose
2 : formed or used for specific or immediate problems or needs <ad hoc solutions>
ad hoc
Contrived purely for the purpose in hand rather than planned carefully in advance. E.g. "We didn't know what to do about the sausage rolls, so we set up an ad-hoc committee".
(1995-03-25)
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