practical Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective 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
  2. adjective satellite guided by practical experience and observation rather than theory
    hardheaded; hard-nosed; pragmatic.
    • a hardheaded appraisal of our position
    • a hard-nosed labor leader
    • completely practical in his approach to business
    • not ideology but pragmatic politics
  3. adjective satellite being actually such in almost every respect
    virtual.
    • a practical failure
    • the once elegant temple lay in virtual ruin
  4. adjective satellite having or put to a practical purpose or use
    • practical mathematics
    • practical applications of calculus

WordNet

Prac"ti*cal adjective
Etymology
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.
Definitions
  1. Of or pertaining to practice or action.
  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.
  3. Evincing practice or skill; capable of applying knowledge to some useful end; as, a practical man; a practical mind.
  4. Derived from practice; as, practical skill.

Webster 1913