practical

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpræk.tɪ.kəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Middle English practic “dealing with practical matters” or the noun practic “method, practice, use” and the suffix -al,^[2][3][4] partly from Medieval Latin practicalis.^[2][3] Practic is from Old French practique and Late Latin prācticus,^[2][3] from Ancient Greek πρακτικός (praktikós, “fit for action, business-like”),^[2][3] from prássein, práttein “to do, act”,^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to lead, pass over”).^[2] It is related to practice, pragmatic and praxis.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to practice or use, applied: before 1425 in Barnhart, in a translation of Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie, and the early 15th century in Etymonline.^[3][2] The OED has it from 1617, and the NODE dates it to the late 16th century.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The form practical gradually replaced the older adjective practic, much as classical stands beside classic.^[3] Actually engaged in an occupation is from 1604,^[5] and of persons whose knowledge comes from practice rather than theory from the 1660s.^[2][5] Being such in practice, virtual, as in a practical certainty, is from 1642.^[5] A practical joke, a jest carried into action, is from 1771.^[2] The noun, a lesson or examination devoted to practice, is by 1934, and 1925 in MWU.^[2][6]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – applied, of practice.^[3]
• 1604 – actually practising.^[5]
• 1642 – virtual, in effect.^[5]
• 1660s – of practical people.^[2]
• 1771 – practical joke.^[2]
• 1934 – noun, a practical lesson.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Relating to real situations and actions rather than theory.
2. Likely to work or be useful; sensible.
3. Good at dealing with problems and making or doing things.
4. Being so in effect, though not in name; virtual.

Noun

1. (British) A lesson or examination in which students do things rather than write.

Word family

• practicality
• practicalness
• practically
• nonpractical
• practicalism
• semipractical
• ultrapractical
• unpractical

Related words

• practicable
• practice
• practise
• practitioner
• pragmatic
• praxis

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster