practice: Meaning and Definition of

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. the established method of conducting legal proceedings.
  9. plotting; intrigue; trickery.
  10. Usually,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. to plot or conspire.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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