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ad hoc - 8 dictionary results

ad hoc

  [ad hok; Lat. ahd hohk]
Use ad hoc in a Sentence
–adverb
1. for the special purpose or end presently under consideration: a committee formed ad hoc to deal with the issue.
–adjective
2. concerned or dealing with a specific subject, purpose, or end: The ad hoc committee disbanded after making its final report.
Origin:
1550–60; < L ad hōc for this
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ad hoc   (ād hŏk', hōk')   
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.  
  1. Formed for or concerned with one specific purpose: an ad hoc compensation committee.
  2. Improvised and often impromptu: "On an ad hoc basis, Congress has . . . placed . . . ceilings on military aid to specific countries" (New York Times).

[Latin : ad, to + hoc, neuter accusative of hic, this.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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).”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Language Translation for : ad hoc
Spanish: hecho a medida,
German: maßgeschneidert,
Japanese: ぴったりの
More Translations »

ad hoc 
1659, from L., lit. "for this (specific purpose)."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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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 ad hoc investigating committee>
2 : formed or used for specific or immediate problems or needs <ad hoc solutions>
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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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)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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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]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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