Dictionary
prac•tice
Pronunciation: (prak'tis), [key]
—n., v., -ticed, -tic•ing.
—
n.
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.
—
v.t.
1. to perform or do habitually or usually:
to practice a strict regimen.
2. to follow or observe habitually or customarily:
to practice one's religion.
3. to exercise or pursue as a profession, art, or occupation:
to practice law.
4. to perform or do repeatedly in order to acquire skill or proficiency:
to practice the violin.
5. to train or drill (a person, animal, etc.) in something in order to give proficiency.
—
v.i.
1. to do something habitually or as a practice.
2. to pursue a profession, esp. law or medicine.
3. to exercise oneself by repeated performance in order to acquire skill:
to practice at shooting.
4. Archaic.to plot or conspire.
Also, Brit.,practise (for defs. 11–19).Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
