Practical

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Practical \Prac"ti*cal\, a. [L. practicus active, Gr. ? fit for
     doing or performing, practical, active, fr. ? to do, work,
     effect: cf. F. pratique, formerly also practique. Cf.
     {Pragmatic}, {Practice}.]
     1. Of or pertaining to practice or action.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. Capable of being turned to use or account; useful, in
        distinction from {ideal} or {theoretical}; as, practical
        chemistry. "Man's practical understanding." --South. "For
        all practical purposes." --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Evincing practice or skill; capable of applying knowledge
        to some useful end; as, a practical man; a practical mind.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Derived from practice; as, practical skill.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Practical joke}, a joke put in practice; a joke the fun of
        which consists in something done, in distinction from
        something said; esp., a trick played upon a person.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  practical
       adj 1: concerned with actual use or practice; "he is a very
              practical person"; "the idea had no practical
              application"; "a practical knowledge of Japanese";
              "woodworking is a practical art" [ant: {impractical}]
       2: guided by practical experience and observation rather than
          theory; "a hardheaded appraisal of our position"; "a
          hard-nosed labor leader"; "completely practical in his
          approach to business"; "not ideology but pragmatic
          politics" [syn: {hardheaded}, {hard-nosed}, {pragmatic}]
       3: being actually such in almost every respect; "a practical
          failure"; "the once elegant temple lay in virtual ruin"
          [syn: {virtual(a)}, {practical(a)}]
       4: having or put to a practical purpose or use; "practical
          mathematics"; "practical applications of calculus"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  147 Moby Thesaurus words for "practical":
     achievable, actable, adaptable, advantageous, appliable,
     applicable, applied, appropriate, attainable, balanced, banausic,
     beneficial, breadwinning, businesslike, commercial, commodious,
     commonsense, compassable, compliant, constructive, convenient,
     cool, coolheaded, doable, down-to-earth, ductile, earthy,
     effective, effectual, efficacious, efficient, empirical,
     employable, everyday, expedient, exploitable, feasible, field,
     fitting, flexible, foolproof, functional, go, good for, handy,
     hard, hard-boiled, hard-nosed, hardheaded, helpful, hoaxproof,
     judicious, levelheaded, logical, malleable, manageable,
     maneuverable, manipulable, manipulatable, materialistic,
     matter-of-fact, moneymaking, mundane, negotiable,
     not born yesterday, of general utility, of help, of service,
     of use, old, old-time, operable, operatable, operational,
     operative, ordinary, overcomable, performable, personal,
     philosophical, pliable, pliant, positivistic, practicable,
     practical-minded, practiced, pragmatic, pragmatical, proper,
     prosaic, rational, realist, realistic, realizable, reasonable,
     reusable, sane, scientific, scientistic, seasoned, secular,
     sensible, serviceable, skilled, sober, sober-minded, sophisticated,
     sound, sound-thinking, straight-thinking, superable, surmountable,
     tough-minded, tractable, uncullible, undeceivable, undeludable,
     undupable, unfoolable, ungullible, unhoaxable, unideal,
     unidealistic, unromantic, unseduceable, unsentimental,
     untroublesome, usable, useable, useful, utilitarian, utilizable,
     versed, vet, veteran, viable, virtual, well-balanced, wieldable,
     wieldy, wise, workable, workaday, workday, working, worldly,
     yielding