Method

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmɛθəd/
• Hyphenation: me + thod

Origin

From Ancient Greek μέθοδος (methodos, "pursuit of knowledge, investigation, mode of prosecuting such inquiry, system"), from μετά (meta, "after") + ὁδός (hodos, "way, motion, journey").

Full definition of method

Noun

1. A process by which a task is completed; a way of doing something (followed by the adposition of, to or for before the purpose of the process):
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 3, One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis … interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.
• 2013, William E. Conner, An Acoustic Arms Race, Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close...above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them. Many insects probably use this strategy, which is a close analogy to crypsis in the visible world—camouflage and other methods for blending into one’s visual background.
2. One method of exercising a cat consist of making it follow the spot generated by a laser pointer.
   If one method doesn't work, you should ask a friend to help you.
3. A type of theatrical acting wherein the actor utilizes his personal emotions from personal experience to portray a scripted scene.
4. (programming, object-oriented) A subroutine or function belonging to a class or object.
5. (slang) Marijuana.

Derived terms

Anagrams

• mothed