practice definition | Dictionary.com

prac⋅tice

[prak-tis]

noun, verb, -ticed, -tic⋅ing.

–noun

1.	habitual or customary performance; operation: office practice.

2.	habit; custom: It is not the practice here for men to wear long hair.

3.	repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency: Practice makes perfect.

4.	condition arrived at by experience or exercise: She refused to play the piano, because she was out of practice.

5.	the action or process of performing or doing something: to put a scheme into practice; the shameful practices of a blackmailer.

6.	the exercise or pursuit of a profession or occupation, esp. law or medicine: She plans to set up practice in her hometown.

7.	the business of a professional person: The doctor wanted his daughter to take over his practice when he retired.

8.	Law. the established method of conducting legal proceedings.

9.	Archaic. plotting; intrigue; trickery.

10.	Usually, practices. Archaic. intrigues; plots.

–verb (used with object)

11.	to perform or do habitually or usually: to practice a strict regimen.

12.	to follow or observe habitually or customarily: to practice one's religion.

13.	to exercise or pursue as a profession, art, or occupation: to practice law.

14.	to perform or do repeatedly in order to acquire skill or proficiency: to practice the violin.

15.	to train or drill (a person, animal, etc.) in something in order to give proficiency.

–verb (used without object)

16.	to do something habitually or as a practice.

17.	to pursue a profession, esp. law or medicine.

18.	to exercise oneself by repeated performance in order to acquire skill: to practice at shooting.

19.	Archaic. to plot or conspire.

Also, British, practise (for defs. 11–19).

Origin:
1375–1425; (v.) late ME practisen, practizen (< MF pra(c)tiser) < ML prāctizāre, alter. of prācticāre, deriv. of prāctica practical work < Gk prāktik

n. use of fem. of prāktikós practic; see -ize; (n.) late ME, deriv. of the v.

Related forms:

prac⋅tic⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
2. See custom. 3. application. See exercise.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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prac·tice (prāk'tĭs)

v. prac·ticed, prac·tic·ing, prac·tic·es

v. tr.

To do or perform habitually or customarily; make a habit of: practices courtesy in social situations.
To do or perform (something) repeatedly in order to acquire or polish a skill: practice a dance step.
To give lessons or repeated instructions to; drill: practiced the students in handwriting.
To work at, especially as a profession: practice law.
To carry out in action; observe: practices a religion piously.
Obsolete To plot (something evil).

v. intr.

To do or perform something habitually or repeatedly.
To do something repeatedly in order to acquire or polish a skill.
To work at a profession.
Archaic To intrigue or plot.

A habitual or customary action or way of doing something: makes a practice of being punctual.
1. Repeated performance of an activity in order to learn or perfect a skill: Practice will make you a good musician.
2. A session of preparation or performance undertaken to acquire or polish a skill: goes to piano practice weekly; scheduled a soccer practice for Saturday.
3. Archaic The skill so learned or perfected.
4. The condition of being skilled through repeated exercise: out of practice.
5. The act of tricking or scheming, especially with malicious intent.
6. A trick, scheme, or intrigue.
The act or process of doing something; performance or action: a theory that is difficult to put into practice.
Exercise of an occupation or profession: the practice of law.
The business of a professional person: an obstetrician with her own practice.
A habitual or customary action or act. Often used in the plural: That company engages in questionable business practices. Facial tattooing is a standard practice among certain peoples.
Law The methods of procedure used in a court of law.
Archaic
1. The act of tricking or scheming, especially with malicious intent.
2. A trick, scheme, or intrigue.

[Middle English practisen, from Old French practiser, alteration of practiquer, from practique, practice, from Medieval Latin prāctica; see practicable.]
prac'tic·er n.

Synonyms: These verbs mean to do repeatedly to acquire or maintain proficiency: practice the shot put; exercising one's wits; rehearsed the play for 14 days. See Also Synonyms at habit.

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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Practice

Prac"tice\, n. [OE. praktike, practique, F. pratique, formerly also, practique, LL. practica, fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? practical. See Practical, and cf. Pratique, Pretty.]

1. Frequently repeated or customary action; habitual performance; a succession of acts of a similar kind; usage; habit; custom; as, the practice of rising early; the practice of making regular entries of accounts; the practice of daily exercise.

A heart . . . exercised with covetous practices. --2 Pet. ii. 14.

2. Customary or constant use; state of being used.

Obsolete words may be revived when they are more sounding or more significant than those in practice. --Dryden.

3. Skill or dexterity acquired by use; expertness. [R.] "His nice fence and his active practice." --Shak.

4. Actual performance; application of knowledge; -- opposed to theory.

There are two functions of the soul, -- contemplation and practice. --South.

There is a distinction, but no opposition, between theory and practice; each, to a certain extent, supposes the other; theory is dependent on practice; practice must have preceded theory. --Sir W. Hamilton.

5. Systematic exercise for instruction or discipline; as, the troops are called out for practice; she neglected practice in music.

6. Application of science to the wants of men; the exercise of any profession; professional business; as, the practice of medicine or law; a large or lucrative practice.

Practice is exercise of an art, or the application of a science in life, which application is itself an art. --Sir W. Hamilton.

7. Skillful or artful management; dexterity in contrivance or the use of means; art; stratagem; artifice; plot; -- usually in a bad sense. [Obs.] --Bacon.

He sought to have that by practice which he could not by prayer. --Sir P. Sidney.

8. (Math.) A easy and concise method of applying the rules of arithmetic to questions which occur in trade and business.

9. (Law) The form, manner, and order of conducting and carrying on suits and prosecutions through their various stages, according to the principles of law and the rules laid down by the courts. --Bouvier.

Syn: Custom; usage; habit; manner.

Practice

Prac"tice\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Practiced; p. pr. & vb. n. Practicing.] [Often written practise, practised, practising.]

1. To do or perform frequently, customarily, or habitually; to make a practice of; as, to practice gaming. "Incline not my heart . . . practice wicked works." --Ps. cxli. 4.

2. To exercise, or follow, as a profession, trade, art, etc., as, to practice law or medicine.

2. To exercise one's self in, for instruction or improvement, or to acquire discipline or dexterity; as, to practice gunnery; to practice music.

4. To put into practice; to carry out; to act upon; to commit; to execute; to do. "Aught but Talbot's shadow whereon to practice your severity." --Shak.

As this advice ye practice or neglect. --Pope.

5. To make use of; to employ. [Obs.]

In malice to this good knight's wife, I practiced Ubaldo and Ricardo to corrupt her. --Massinger.

6. To teach or accustom by practice; to train.

In church they are taught to love God; after church they are practiced to love their neighbor. --Landor.

Practice

Prac"tice\, v. i. [Often written practise.]

1. To perform certain acts frequently or customarily, either for instruction, profit, or amusement; as, to practice with the broadsword or with the rifle; to practice on the piano.

2. To learn by practice; to form a habit.

They shall practice how to live secure. --Milton.

Practice first over yourself to reign. --Waller.

3. To try artifices or stratagems.

He will practice against thee by poison. --Shak.

4. To apply theoretical science or knowledge, esp. by way of experiment; to exercise or pursue an employment or profession, esp. that of medicine or of law.

[I am] little inclined to practice on others, and as little that others should practice on me. --Sir W. Temple.

Language Translation for : practice

Spanish: práctica,

German: die Praxis,

Japanese: 実際

More Translations »

practice (v.)

1392, "to do, act, or perform habitually," from O.Fr. practiser "to practice," from M.L. practicare "to do, perform, practice," from L.L. practicus "practical," from Gk. praktikos "practical." The noun is from 1421, originally as practise, from O.Fr. pratiser, from M.L. practicare. Also as practik, which survived in parallel into 19c. Practiced "expert" is from 1568; practicing (adj.) is recorded from 1625 in ref. to professions, from 1906 in ref. to religions.

Main Entry: prac·tice
Function: noun
1 : the form and manner of conducting judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings
2 a : the continuous exercise of a profession; also : the performance of services that are considered to require an appropriate license practice of law> b : a professional business

Main Entry: ¹prac·tice
Variant: or prac·tise /'prak-t&s/
Function: verb
Inflected Forms: prac·ticed or prac·tised; prac·tic·ing or prac·tis·ing
transitive senses
: to be professionally engaged in<practice medicine> practice intransitive senses
: to pursue a profession actively

Main Entry: ²practice
Variant: also practise
Function: noun
1 : the continuous exercise of a profession
2 : aprofessional business; especially : one constituting an incorporeal property practice and retired>

practice prac·tice (prāk'tĭs)
v. prac·ticed, prac·tic·ing, prac·tic·es
To engage in the profession of medicine or one of the allied health professions. n.

The exercise of the profession of medicine.
The business of a practicing physician or group of physicians, including facilities and customary patients.

practice

In addition to the idioms beginning with practice, also see in practice; make a practice of; out of practice; put into practice; sharp practice.

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