PRAC'TICE, n. [Gr. to act, to do, to make; Eng. to brook, and broker; L. fruor, for frugor or frucor, whence fructus, contracted into fruit; frequens.]

1. Frequent or customary actions; a succession of acts of a similar kind or in a like employment; as, the practice of rising early or of dining late; the practice of reading a portion of Scripture morning and evening; the practice of making regular entries of accounts; the practice of virtue or vice. Habit is the effect of practice.
2. Use; customary use. Obsolete words may be revived when they are more sounding or significant than those in practice. Dryden.
3. Dexterity acquired by use. [Unusual.] – Shak.
4. Actual performance; distinguished from theory. There are two functions of the soul, contemplation and practice, according to the general division of objects, some of which only entertain our speculations, others employ our actions. – South.
5. Application of remedies; medical treatment of diseases. Two physicians may differ widely in their practice.
6. Exercise of any profession; as the practice of law or of medicine; the practice of arms.
7. Frequent use; exercise for instruction or discipline. The troops are daily called out for practice.
8. Skillful or artful management; dexterity in contrivance or the use of means; art; stratagem; artifice; usually in a bad sense. He sought to have that by practice which he could not by prayer. – Sidney. [This use of the word is genuine; Sp. practico, skillful, It. pratico; like expert, from L. experior. It is not a mistake as Johnson supposes. See the verb.]
9. A rule in arithmetic, by which the operations of the general rules are abridged in use.

1. To perform certain acts frequently or customarily, either for instruction, profit or amusement; as, to practice with, the broad-sword; to practice with the rifle.
2. To form a habit of acting in any manner. They shall practice how to live secure. – Milton.
3. To transact or negotiate secretly. I have practic'd with him, / And found means to let the victor know / That Syphax and Sempronius are his friends. – Addison.
4. To try artifices. Others, by guilty artifice and arts / Of promis'd kindness practic'd on our hearts. – Granville.
5. To use evil arts or stratagems. If you there / Did practice on my state … – Shak.
6. To use medical methods or experiments. I am little inclined to practice on others, and as little that others should practice on me. – Temple.
7. To exercise any employment or profession. A physician has practiced many years with success.

1. To do or perform frequently, customarily or habitually; to perform by a succession of acts; as, to practice gaming; to practice fraud or deception; to practice the virtues of charity and beneficence; to practice hypocrisy. – Isa. xxxii. Many praise virtue who do not practice it. – Anon.
2. To use or exercise any profession or art; as, to practice law or medicine; to practice gunnery or surveying.
3. To use or exercise for instruction, discipline or dexterity. [In this sense, the verb is usually intransitive.]
4. To commit; to perpetrate; as, the horrors practiced at Wyoming. – Marshall.
5. To use; as, a practiced road. [Unusual.] – Mitford.

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.
   
   

   A heart . . . exercised with covetous practices. 2 Pet. ii. 14.

2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Customary or constant use; state of being used.
   
   

   Obsolete words may be revived when they are more sounding or more significant than those in practice. Dryden.

5. To exercise, or follow, as a profession, trade, art, etc., as, to practice law or medicine.
6. To learn by practice; to form a habit.
   
   

   They shall practice how to live secure. Milton.

   Practice first over yourself to reign. Waller.

7. Skill or dexterity acquired by use; expertness.
   
   
   [R.] "His nice fence and his active practice." Shak.
8. To exercise one's self in, for instruction or improvement, or to acquire discipline or dexterity; as, to practice gunnery; to practice music.
9. To try artifices or stratagems.
   
   

   He will practice against thee by poison. Shak.

10. Actual performance; application of knowledge; -- opposed to theory.
    
    

    There are two functions of the soul, -- contemplation and practice. South.

    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.

11. 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.

    As this advice ye practice or neglect. Pope.

12. 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.
    
    

    [I am] little inclined to practice on others, and as little that others should practice on me. Sir W. Temple.

13. Systematic exercise for instruction or discipline; as, the troops are called out for practice; she neglected practice in music.
14. To make use of; to employ.
    
    
    [Obs.]

    In malice to this good knight's wife, I practiced Ubaldo and Ricardo to corrupt her. Massinger.

15. 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.
    
    

    Practice is exercise of an art, or the application of a science in life, which application is itself an art. Sir W. Hamilton.

16. To teach or accustom by practice; to train.
    
    

    In church they are taught to love God; after church they are practiced to love their neighbor. Landor.

17. Skillful or artful management; dexterity in contrivance or the use of means; art; stratagem; artifice; plot; -- usually in a bad sense.
    
    
    [Obs.] Bacon.

    He sought to have that by practice which he could not by prayer. Sir P. Sidney.

18. A easy and concise method of applying the rules of arithmetic to questions which occur in trade and business.
19. 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.

    Syn. -- Custom; usage; habit; manner.