practice

practice
    n 1: a customary way of operation or behavior; "it is their
         practice to give annual raises"; "they changed their
         dietary pattern" [syn: {practice}, {pattern}]
    2: systematic training by multiple repetitions; "practice makes
       perfect" [syn: {exercise}, {practice}, {drill}, {practice
       session}, {recitation}]
    3: translating an idea into action; "a hard theory to put into
       practice"; "differences between theory and praxis of
       communism" [syn: {practice}, {praxis}]
    4: the exercise of a profession; "the practice of the law"; "I
       took over his practice when he retired"
    5: knowledge of how something is usually done; "it is not the
       local practice to wear shorts to dinner"
    v 1: carry out or practice; as of jobs and professions;
         "practice law" [syn: {practice}, {practise}, {exercise},
         {do}]
    2: learn by repetition; "We drilled French verbs every day";
       "Pianists practice scales" [syn: {drill}, {exercise},
       {practice}, {practise}]
    3: engage in a rehearsal (of) [syn: {rehearse}, {practise},
       {practice}]
    4: avail oneself to; "apply a principle"; "practice a religion";
       "use care when going down the stairs"; "use your common
       sense"; "practice non-violent resistance" [syn: {practice},
       {apply}, {use}]
    5: engage in or perform; "practice safe sex"; "commit a random
       act of kindness" [syn: {commit}, {practice}]
    

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.
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            A heart . . . exercised with covetous practices. --2
                                                  Pet. ii. 14.
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   2. Customary or constant use; state of being used.
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            Obsolete words may be revived when they are more
            sounding or more significant than those in practice.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   3. Skill or dexterity acquired by use; expertness. [R.] "His
      nice fence and his active practice." --Shak.
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   4. Actual performance; application of knowledge; -- opposed
      to theory.
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            There are two functions of the soul, --
            contemplation and practice.           --South.
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            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.
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   5. Systematic exercise for instruction or discipline; as, the
      troops are called out for practice; she neglected practice
      in music.
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   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.
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            Practice is exercise of an art, or the application
            of a science in life, which application is itself an
            art.                                  --Sir W.
                                                  Hamilton.
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   7. Skillful or artful management; dexterity in contrivance or
      the use of means; art; stratagem; artifice; plot; --
      usually in a bad sense. [Obs.] --Bacon.
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            He sought to have that by practice which he could
            not by prayer.                        --Sir P.
                                                  Sidney.
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   8. (Math.) A easy and concise method of applying the rules of
      arithmetic to questions which occur in trade and business.
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   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.
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   Syn: Custom; usage; habit; manner.
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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.
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   2. To exercise, or follow, as a profession, trade, art, etc.,
      as, to practice law or medicine.
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   2. To exercise one's self in, for instruction or improvement,
      or to acquire discipline or dexterity; as, to practice
      gunnery; to practice music.
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   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.
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            As this advice ye practice or neglect. --Pope.
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   5. To make use of; to employ. [Obs.]
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            In malice to this good knight's wife, I practiced
            Ubaldo and Ricardo to corrupt her.    --Massinger.
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   6. To teach or accustom by practice; to train.
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            In church they are taught to love God; after church
            they are practiced to love their neighbor. --Landor.
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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.
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   2. To learn by practice; to form a habit.
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            They shall practice how to live secure. --Milton.
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            Practice first over yourself to reign. --Waller.
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   3. To try artifices or stratagems.
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            He will practice against thee by poison. --Shak.
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   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.
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            [I am] little inclined to practice on others, and as
            little that others should practice on me. --Sir W.
                                                  Temple.
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PRACTICE. The form, manner and order of conducting and carrying on suits or 
prosecutions in the courts through their various stages, according, to the 
principles of law, and the rules laid down by the respective courts. 
     2. By practice is also meant the business which an attorney or 
counsellor does; as, A B has a good practice. 
     3. The books on practice are very numerous; among the most popular are 
those Of Tidd, Chitty, Archbold, Sellon, Graham, Dunlap, Caines, Troubat and 
Haly, Blake, Impey. 
     4. A settled, uniform, and loll, continued practice, without objection 
is evidence of what the law is, and such practice is based on principles 
which are founded in justice and convenience. Buck, 279; 2 Russ. R. 19, 570; 
2 Jac. It. 232; 5 T. R. 380; 1 Y. & J. 167, 168; 2 Crompt. & M. 55; Ram on 
Judgm. ch. 7. 
    

487 Moby Thesaurus words for "practice":
      Gedankenexperiment, MO, accordance, acquittal, acquittance, act,
      acting, action, actions, activism, activity, acts, actually,
      addition, address, adherence, affectation, agency, air, algorithm,
      application, apprentice, apprenticeship, approach, approximation,
      art, assay, athletics, attack, audition, automatism, background,
      bad habit, basic training, battologize, be about, be doing,
      be engaged in, be occupied with, be responsible for, bearing,
      behave, behavior, behavior pattern, behavioral norm,
      behavioral science, bench test, blaseness, bon ton, bone, boning,
      brainwork, break, break in, breaking, breather, breed, breeding,
      bring to test, bring up, business, cabal, calisthenics, calling,
      care, career, career building, careerism, carriage,
      carry into execution, carry on, carry out, carry through,
      carrying out, ceremonial, ceremony, characteristic, compliance,
      comportment, con, condition, conditioning, conduct, confirm,
      conformance, conformity, conning, conspiracy, constitutional,
      consuetude, contemplate, contemplation, convenance, convention,
      course, covin, craft, cram, cramming, creature of habit, cultivate,
      cultivation, culture pattern, custom, cut and try, daily dozen,
      deal with, demeanor, deportment, develop, development,
      differentiation, dig, direct, direction, discharge, discipline,
      division, do, do with, doing, doings, drill, drilling, drive,
      driving, dry run, duty, elucubrate, employ, employment, engage in,
      engrossment, equation, essay, established way, etiquette,
      evolution, examine, execute, execution, exercise, exercising,
      exert, experience, experiment, extensive study, extrapolation,
      fashion, fetch up, fetching-up, fill, fit, flight test, folkway,
      follow, force of habit, form, form of worship, formality, formula,
      formulary, foster, fostering, fulfill, fulfillment, function,
      functioning, game, gestures, give a try, give a tryout,
      give an encore, go in for, go over, go through, goings-on, grind,
      grinding, groom, grooming, guise, gymnastic exercises, gymnastics,
      habit, habit pattern, habitude, handicraft, handle, handling,
      have a go, headwork, hearing, heed, heeding, holy rite,
      house-train, housebreak, housebreaking, improve, improvement,
      in practice, in-service training, inexperienced, inspection,
      institution, integration, interpolation, intrigue, inversion,
      involution, isometrics, iterate, keeping, lick into shape,
      lifework, line, line of action, line of business, line of work,
      lines, liturgy, lucubrate, lucubration, machination, maintien,
      make, make go, make use of, manage, management, maneuver,
      manipulate, manipulation, manner, manner of working, manners,
      manual training, means, mental labor, method, methodology, methods,
      metier, mien, military training, mission, mode, mode of operation,
      mode of procedure, mode of worship, modus operandi, modus vivendi,
      mores, motions, move, movements, moves, multiplication, mystery,
      notation, number, nurse, nurture, nurturing, observable behavior,
      observance, observation, occupation, office, on-the-job training,
      operancy, operate, operation, operations, order, order of worship,
      ordinance, pad, past experience, pattern, peculiarity, perform,
      perform on, performance, performing, perusal, peruse,
      physical education, physical jerks, pilot, pilot plan, play,
      play around with, plunge into, ply, poise, pore over, port, pose,
      posture, practical knowledge, practical test, practically,
      practice upon, praxis, preparation, prepare, prescribed form,
      prescription, presence, procedure, proceed, proceeding, process,
      profession, proper thing, proportion, prosecute, prove, pursue,
      pursuit, put in tune, put to school, put to trial, racket, raise,
      raising, read, reading, ready, readying, reaffirm, realistically,
      rear, rearing, reassert, recapitulate, recite, recount, reduction,
      regard studiously, rehash, rehearsal, rehearse, reissue, reiterate,
      repeat, repetition, reprint, research, respect, responsibility,
      restate, restudy, restudying, resume, retail, retell, review,
      reword, rite, ritual, ritual observance, rituality, road test,
      road-test, routine, rule, run, run a sample, run over, run through,
      running, rusty, sacrament, sacramental, sagacity, sample,
      satisfaction, say over, say over again, scheme, seasoning,
      second nature, see to, send to school, serve, service,
      setting-up exercises, shake down, shakedown, shakedown cruise,
      sloyd, social convention, social science, solemnity,
      sophistication, specialization, specialize in, specialty,
      standard behavior, standard usage, standing custom, steer,
      steering, stereotype, stereotyped behavior, stretch, study,
      studying, style, subject, substantiate, subtraction, sum up,
      summarize, swing, swot, swotting, system, tackle, tactics,
      take care of, take in hand, take on, take to, take up, taste,
      tautologize, technic, technique, tempering, test, test flight,
      test run, the drill, the how, the way of, time-honored practice,
      tone, trade, tradition, train, training, transformation, trial run,
      trick, try, try it on, try out, tryout, unaccustomed, undertake,
      upbringing, usage, use, usefulness, utility, utilize, validate,
      verify, vet, vocation, vocational education, vocational training,
      wade through, wage, walk, walk of life, warm-up, way, way of life,
      ways, what is done, wide reading, wield, wise, wont, wonting, work,
      work at, working, workings, workout, worldly wisdom, yoga