What does practice mean?

Definitions for practice
ˈpræk tɪsprac·tice

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word practice.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. practice, patternnoun

    a customary way of operation or behavior

    "it is their practice to give annual raises"; "they changed their dietary pattern"

  2. exercise, practice, drill, practice session, recitationnoun

    systematic training by multiple repetitions

    "practice makes perfect"

  3. practice, praxisnoun

    translating an idea into action

    "a hard theory to put into practice"; "differences between theory and praxis of communism"

  4. practicenoun

    the exercise of a profession

    "the practice of the law"; "I took over his practice when he retired"

  5. practiceverb

    knowledge of how something is usually done

    "it is not the local practice to wear shorts to dinner"

  6. practice, practise, exercise, doverb

    carry out or practice; as of jobs and professions

    "practice law"

  7. drill, exercise, practice, practiseverb

    learn by repetition

    "We drilled French verbs every day"; "Pianists practice scales"

  8. rehearse, practise, practiceverb

    engage in a rehearsal (of)

  9. practice, apply, useverb

    avail oneself to

    "apply a principle"; "practice a religion"; "use care when going down the stairs"; "use your common sense"; "practice non-violent resistance"

  10. commit, practiceverb

    engage in or perform

    "practice safe sex"; "commit a random act of kindness"

Wiktionary

  1. practicenoun

    Repetition of an activity to improve skill.

    He will need lots of practice with those lines before he performs them.

  2. practicenoun

    The ongoing pursuit of a craft or profession, particularly in medicine or the fine arts.

  3. practicenoun

    A place where a professional service is provided, such as a general practice.

    She ran a thriving medical practice.

  4. practicenoun

    The observance of religious duties which a church requires of its members.

  5. practicenoun

    A customary action, habit, or behavior; a manner or routine.

  6. practicenoun

    Actual operation or experiment, in contrast to theory.

    That may work in practice, but will it work in theory?

  7. practicenoun

    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"

  8. practiceverb

    To repeat (an activity) as a way of improving one's skill in that activity.

    You should practice playing piano every day.

  9. practiceverb

    To repeat an activity in this way.

    If you want to speak French well, you need to practice.

  10. practiceverb

    To perform or observe in a habitual fashion.

    They gather to practice religion every Saturday.

  11. practiceverb

    To pursue (a career, especially law, fine art or medicine).

    She practiced law for forty years before retiring.

  12. practiceverb

    To conspire.

  13. Etymology: See practise.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. PRACTICEnoun

    Etymology: πϱαϰτιϰὴ; pratique, Fr.

    Obsolete words may be laudably revived, when they are more sounding, or more significant than those in practice. Dry.

    Of such a practice when Ulysses told;
    Shall we, cries one, permit
    This lewd romancer and his bant’ring wit. Nahum Tate.

    I’ll prove it on his body, if he dare,
    Despite his nice fence and his active practice. William Shakespeare.

    There are two functions of the soul, contemplation and practice, according to that general division of objects, some of which only entertain our speculations, others also employ our actions; so the understanding, with relation to these, is divided into speculative and practick. South.

    This disease is beyond my practice; yet I have known those which have walked in their sleep, who have died holily in their beds. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

    He sought to have that by practice, which he could not by prayer; and being allowed to visit us, he used the opportunity of a fit time thus to deliver us. Philip Sidney, b. ii.

    Partly with suspicion of practice, the king was suddenly turned. Philip Sidney, b. ii.

    It is the shameful work of Hubert’s hand,
    The practice and the purpose of the king. William Shakespeare.

    Shall we thus permit
    A blasting and a scandalous breath to fall
    On him so near us? this needs must be practice;
    Who knew of your intent and coming hither? William Shakespeare.

    Wise states prevent purposes
    Before they come to practice, and foul practices
    Before they grow to act. John Denham, Sophy.

ChatGPT

  1. practice

    Practice can generally be defined as the repeated performance or application of a skill, activity, or behavior in order to improve or master it. It involves intentional and focused effort, often with the goal of refining abilities, acquiring knowledge, or enhancing performance. Practice can take various forms depending on the field or context, such as practicing a musical instrument, engaging in sports drills, honing professional skills, or rehearsing for a performance.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Practicenoun

    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

  2. Practicenoun

    customary or constant use; state of being used

  3. Practicenoun

    skill or dexterity acquired by use; expertness

  4. Practicenoun

    actual performance; application of knowledge; -- opposed to theory

  5. Practicenoun

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

  6. Practicenoun

    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

  7. Practicenoun

    skillful or artful management; dexterity in contrivance or the use of means; art; stratagem; artifice; plot; -- usually in a bad sense

  8. Practicenoun

    a easy and concise method of applying the rules of arithmetic to questions which occur in trade and business

  9. Practicenoun

    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

  10. Practiceverb

    to do or perform frequently, customarily, or habitually; to make a practice of; as, to practice gaming

  11. Practiceverb

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

  12. Practiceverb

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

  13. Practiceverb

    to put into practice; to carry out; to act upon; to commit; to execute; to do

  14. Practiceverb

    to make use of; to employ

  15. Practiceverb

    to teach or accustom by practice; to train

  16. Practiceverb

    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

  17. Practiceverb

    to learn by practice; to form a habit

  18. Practiceverb

    to try artifices or stratagems

  19. Practiceverb

    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

  20. Etymology: [Often written practise.]

Wikidata

  1. Practice

    Practice is the act of rehearsing a behavior over and over, or engaging in an activity again and again, for the purpose of improving or mastering it, as in the phrase "practice makes perfect". Sports teams practice to prepare for actual games. Playing a musical instrument well takes a lot of practice. It is a method of learning and of acquiring experience. The word derives from the Greek "πρακτική", feminine of "πρακτικός", "fit for or concerned with action, practical" and that from the verb "πράσσω","to achieve, bring about, effect, accomplish". In American English practice is used as both a noun and a verb, but in British English there is a distinction between practice, used as a noun, and practise, used as a verb. Sessions scheduled for the purpose of rehearsing and performance improvement are called practices. They are engaged in by sports teams, bands, individuals, etc. "He went to football practice everyday after school," for example.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Practice

    prak′tis, n. the habit of doing anything: frequent use: state of being used: regular exercise for instruction: performance: method: medical treatment: exercise of any profession: a rule or method in arithmetic.—ns. Practicabil′ity, Prac′ticableness, quality of being practicable.—adj. Prac′ticable, that may be practised, used, or followed: passable, as a road.—adv. Prac′ticably.—adj. Prac′tical, that can be put in practice: useful: applying knowledge to some useful end: derived from practice.—ns. Practical′ity; Prac′tical-joke, a trick of an annoying kind played on any one; Prac′tical-knowl′edge, knowledge which results in action.—adv. Prac′tically, in a practical way: actually: by actual trial.—n. Prac′ticalness. [M. E. praktike—O. Fr. practique—Gr. praktikos, fit for doing—prassein, to do.]

Suggested Resources

  1. Practice

    Practice vs. Practise -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Practice and Practise.

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'practice' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #539

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'practice' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1187

  3. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'practice' in Nouns Frequency: #158

How to pronounce practice?

How to say practice in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of practice in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of practice in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of practice in a Sentence

  1. Oliver Sacks:

    In forty years of medical practice, I have found only two types of non-pharmaceutical ‘therapy’ to be vitally important for patients with chronic neurological diseases: music and gardens.

  2. La Russa:

    He just continues to improve, does n’t he ? you think about his first bullpen to his first batting practice to his first game. And now every time he goes out there, he’s taking another couple steps forward.

  3. Maria Salazar:

    The difference between us and other communities is that we have a point of reference. We know what Venezuela and Cuba and Nicaragua and Ecuador and Peru and Argentina and Chile look like. We know Mexico. We know, so it's very easy to compare, my parents fled socialism, and anything that has that word attached to it, whether its democratic socialism or pragmatic socialism, that's all the theory. It's not the practice. We have experienced the practice. We have the wounds, and we have the whips on our backs. We know. We know what socialism means.

  4. Earnie Larsen:

    What we live with, we learn. What we learn, we practice. What we practice, we become.

  5. Dale Moss:

    It's going to take time. I wanted nothing more than to make this relationship work, […] While this is going to be difficult, what you'll see from me is trying to practice what I preach and continue to put my best foot forward each and every day. While trying to find some sense of normalcy, I'm also going to try and find joy and happiness in each day and continue to share that. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

practice#1#956#10000

Translations for practice

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

  • تدريب, يمارسArabic
  • ғәмәлBashkir
  • སྦྱོང སྦྱང སྦྱངས སྦྱོངསTibetan Standard
  • practicar, pràcticaCatalan, Valencian
  • cvičit, procvičování, cvičení, praxeCzech
  • udøve, praksis, øve, træneDanish
  • Üben, ausüben, Praxis, Übung, Ausübung, praktizierenGerman
  • μελετáω, εξάσκηση, προπονούμαι, άσκηση, ασκώ, πράξη, [[κάνω]] [[εξάσκηση]], πρακτικήGreek
  • praktikadoEsperanto
  • practicar, prácticaSpanish
  • تمرین, عمل, تمرین کردن, کاربردPersian
  • harjoitus, käytäntö, harjoitella, harjoittelu, harjoittaaFinnish
  • pratiquer, pratique, s'entrainer, entrainerFrench
  • crábhadh, cleachtIrish
  • cleachdadhScottish Gaelic
  • practicarGalician
  • अभ्यासHindi
  • gyakorol, gyakorlatHungarian
  • սովորություն, պարապել, մարզվել, վարժվելArmenian
  • praktekIndonesian
  • pratica, praticare, esercitarsi, addestrareItalian
  • תרגולHebrew
  • 練習, 業務, 儀式, ならわし, 慣習Japanese
  • ಅಭ್ಯಾಸKannada
  • 련습, 연습하다, 練習, 연습Korean
  • praxiLatin
  • whakaharatauMāori
  • praktijk, oefening, oefenen, uitoefening, beoefenDutch
  • øve påNorwegian
  • ćwiczenie, praktykować, praktyka, zajmować się, nawyk, ćwiczyćPolish
  • treinar, praticar, práticaPortuguese
  • antrenament, aplicare, practicăRomanian
  • практиковаться, тренироваться, упражняться, попрактиковаться, практикаRussian
  • prȁksa, vjȅžba, nȃvika, vjȅžbānje, ȍbičājSerbo-Croatian
  • utöva, träning, övning, öva, vana, träna, praktisera, praktikSwedish
  • பயிற்சிTamil
  • సాధనTelugu
  • การปฏิบัติThai
  • uygulamaTurkish
  • практикаUkrainian
  • مشقUrdu
  • luyện tậpVietnamese
  • פירYiddish
  • 实践Chinese

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"practice." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/practice>.

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