PRACTISE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does practise mean? 

• PRACTISE (verb)
  The verb PRACTISE has 3 senses:

1. engage in a rehearsal (of)

2. carry out or practice; as of jobs and professions

3. learn by repetition

  Familiarity information: PRACTISE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRACTISE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they practise    ... he / she / it practises   
Past simple: practised   
Past participle: practised   
-ing form: practising   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Engage in a rehearsal (of)

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

practice; practise; rehearse

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 2

Meaning:

Carry out or practice; as of jobs and professions

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

do; exercise; practice; practise

Context example:

practice law

"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

Sense 3

Meaning:

Learn by repetition

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

drill; exercise; practice; practise

Context example:

Pianists practice scales

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

 Context examples 

You have not yet began to practise it?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

How to understand the deceptions she had been thus practising on herself, and living under!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“I assure you, madam,” he replied, “that she does not need such advice. She practises very constantly.”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

It is no easy matter, and requires a strong and practised arm.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then I began to think of Holmes’s own methods and to try to practise them in reading this tragedy.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I have been a liberal housekeeper enough, but I shall not be ashamed to practise economy now.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I have been working very hard lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan's studies, and I have been practising shorthand very assiduously.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

"Yes," came the answer, "but I assure you I didn't come into the Klondike to practise."

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

He was wholly at a loss to know what could be the use or necessity of practising those vices.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I have seen the two Macs attempt something of the kind at the halls, but it appears to take some practise to do it without hurting oneself.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)