Practice

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

• (British Commonwealth) practise (used only for the verb)

Origin

See practise.

Full definition of practice

Noun

1. Repetition of an activity to improve skill.He will need lots of practice with the lines before he performs them.
2. (uncountable) The ongoing pursuit of a craft or profession, particularly in medicine or the fine arts.
3. (countable) A place where a professional service is provided, such as a general practice.She ran a thriving medical practice.
4. The observance of religious duties that a church requires of its members.
5. A customary action, habit, or behavior; a manner or routine.It is the usual practice of employees there to wear neckties only when meeting with customers.It is good practice to check each door and window before leaving.
6. Actual operation or experiment, in contrast to theory.That may work in theory, but will it work in practice?
7. (legal) 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.This firm of solicitors is involved in family law practice.
8. Skilful or artful management; dexterity in contrivance or the use of means; stratagem; artifice.
• Sir Philip SidneyHe sought to have that by practice which he could not by prayer.
9. (math) A easy and concise method of applying the rules of arithmetic to questions which occur in trade and business.

Usage notes

British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand English distinguish between practice (a noun) and practise (a verb), analogously with advice/advise. In American English, practice is commonly used for both forms, and this is also common in Canada.

Synonyms

• (improvement of skill) rehearsal, drill, exercise, training, workout
• (customary action) custom, habit, routine, wont, wone
• fashion, pattern, trick, way, dry run, trial

Derived terms

• general practice
• overpractice
• practice makes perfect
• practice what one preaches
• put into practice
• sharp practice

Related terms

• practic
• practicable
• practical
• practitioner

Verb

1. (transitive, US) To repeat (an activity) as a way of improving one's skill in that activity.You should practice playing piano every day.
2. (intransitive, US) To repeat an activity in this way.If you want to speak French well, you need to practice.
3. (transitive, US) To perform or observe in a habitual fashion.
• 2012, John T. Jost, Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?, He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record. With this biological framework in place, Corning endeavors to show that the capitalist system as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere is manifestly unfair.
4. They gather to practice religion every Saturday.
5. (transitive, US) To pursue (a career, especially law, fine art or medicine).She practiced law for forty years before retiring.
6. (intransitive, archaic, US) To conspire.
7. Alternative spelling of practise

Usage notes

In sense "to repeat an activity as a way improving one's skill" this is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See

Derived terms

• practiced
• practicing