Library / English Dictionary

PRACTISE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Learn by repetition

Example:

Pianists practice scales

Synonyms:

drill; exercise; practice; practise

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "practise" is one way to...):

learn; read; study; take (be a student of a certain subject)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Engage in a rehearsal (of)

Synonyms:

practice; practise; rehearse

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "practise" is one way to...):

do; execute; perform (carry out or perform an action)

Domain category:

performing arts (arts or skills that require public performance)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "practise"):

walk through (perform in a perfunctory way, as for a first rehearsal)

scrimmage (practice playing (a sport))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They will practise the duet

Sense 3

Meaning:

Carry out or practice; as of jobs and professions

Example:

practice law

Synonyms:

do; exercise; practice; practise

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

"Practise" entails doing...:

do work; work (be employed)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "practise"):

shamanise; shamanize (practice shamanism)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

But if any fraud or treachery is practising against him, I hope that simple love and truth will be strong in the end.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Hal’s theory, which he practised on others, was that one must get hardened.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Japan is the only country that practises whaling in international waters.

(Brazil to support South Atlantic whale sanctuary bid, Agência BRASIL)

He and I were the only occupants of the parlour: Diana was practising her music in the drawing-room, Mary was gardening—it was a very fine May day, clear, sunny, and breezy.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He bounded back from his perilous foeman; but the other, heated by the bout, rushed madly after him, and so gave the practised wrestler the very vantage for which he had planned.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was so humiliating to reflect on the constant deception practised on her father and Elizabeth; to consider the various sources of mortification preparing for them!

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Elinor joyfully profited by the first of these proposals, and thus by a little of that address which Marianne could never condescend to practise, gained her own end, and pleased Lady Middleton at the same time.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The hunters have experimented and practised with their rifles and shotguns till they are satisfied, and the boat-pullers and steerers have made their spritsails, bound the oars and rowlocks in leather and sennit so that they will make no noise when creeping on the seals, and put their boats in apple-pie order—to use Leach’s homely phrase.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Hosts loved to detain the dry lawyer, when the light-hearted and loose-tongued had already their foot on the threshold; they liked to sit a while in his unobtrusive company, practising for solitude, sobering their minds in the man’s rich silence after the expense and strain of gaiety.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But then I have always supposed it to be my own fault—because I will not take the trouble of practising.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)