practise

verb
/ˈpɹæktɪs/

Etymology

From Middle English practizen, a variant of practisen, from Middle French pratiser, practiser, from Medieval Latin practizo, from Late Latin practico (“to do, perform, execute, propose, practise, exercise, be conversant with, contrive, conspire, etc.”), from prāctica (“practical affairs", "business”), from Ancient Greek πρᾱκτική (prāktikḗ), from πρᾱκτικός (prāktikós, “practical”), from πρᾱ́σσειν (prā́ssein, “to do”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per(h₂)- (“to go over, cross”).

  1. derived from *per-
  2. derived from πρᾱκτική
  3. derived from pratiser
  4. inherited from practizen

Definitions

  1. To repeat (an activity) as a way of improving one's skill in that activity.

    • You should practise playing piano every day.
  2. To repeat an activity in this way.

    • If you want to speak French well, you need to practise.
  3. To perform or observe in an habitual fashion.

    • They gather to practise religion every Saturday.
    • Hydromancy was extensively practised by the Egyptian priests and sorcerers[.]
  4. + 7 more definitions
    1. To pursue (a career, especially law, fine art or medicine).

      • She practised law for forty years before retiring.
    2. To conspire.

    3. To put into practice

      To put into practice; to carry out; to act upon; to commit; to execute; to do.

      • Aught but Talbot's shadow whereon to practise your severity.
      • As this advice ye practise or neglect.
    4. To make use of

      To make use of; to employ.

      • In malice to this good knight's wife, I practised Ubaldo and Ricardo to corrupt her.
    5. To teach or accustom by practice

      To teach or accustom by practice; to train.

      • In church they are taught to love God; after church they are practised to love their neighbour.
    6. Obsolete spelling of practice.

      • By heauen (fond vvretch) yͧ knovvſt not vvhat thou ſpeak'ſt, / Or elſe thou art ſuborn'd againſt his honor / In hatefull practiſe: […]
      • [T]he practiſe of the Normans, who as a monument of the Conqueſt, would have yoaked the Engliſh vnder their tongue, as they did vnder their command, by compelling them to teach their children in ſchooles nothing but French, […]
    7. Misspelling of practice.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at practise. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01practise02skill03abilities04ability05legal06lawyers07lawyer08doctor09bds

A definitional loop anchored at practise. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at practise

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA