practical

Pluralpracticals

1. 1
   adjective

   Likely to be effective and suited to a real situation, so that it can actually be put to use.

   The committee favored a practical solution over an elegant but untested one.

   These tools offer a practical way to manage your time.

   Similarworkable, feasible, viable, realistic, sensible

   Oppositeimpractical, unworkable, unrealistic, infeasible

2. 2
   adjective

   Connected with doing things or based on experience of doing them, rather than on theories or untested ideas.

   The degree balances theoretical study with practical experience in the field.

   Engineers need practical knowledge as well as mathematical theory.

   Similarhands-on, applied, empirical, real-world

   Oppositetheoretical, academic, abstract, hypothetical

   Note

   The founding sense came into Middle English from Medieval Latin practicālis, in shifting spellings such as practicale and praktycall. It pairs naturally with theory and settles in front of nouns like knowledge, experience and problems. Practical knowledge is what you can do with your hands, whatever you can prove on paper. It compares freely: more practical, most practical.

3. 3
   adjective

   Of a person: having useful skills and good sense for getting real things done.

   He's a practical sort who'd rather fix the fence than discuss it.

   Practical people tend to focus on what works rather than on grand ideas.

   Similarpragmatic, sensible, down-to-earth, realistic, hands-on

   Oppositeimpractical, idealistic, unrealistic, dreamy

4. 4
   nounBritishcountable

   A section of an exam in which the candidate must demonstrate a skill in person rather than in writing.

   The driving practical tests whether you can actually handle a car on the road.

   Students sat their biology practical in the lab after lunch.

   Note

   A British exam word, usually paired with a subject: a chemistry practical, a driving practical. Here the adjective has hardened into an ordinary countable noun with a regular plural, so students talk of revising for their practicals. It overlaps with the laboratory exercise, but this sense names the assessed part of an exam rather than any hands-on session.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A laboratory experiment, test, or investigation carried out as a hands-on exercise.

   Today's practical involves measuring the boiling point of several liquids.

   Each student writes up the practical as a formal lab report.

   Similarexperiment, lab

6. 6
   adjective

   Of a stage or screen prop, having real, working functionality rather than being a mere imitation.

   The director insisted on a practical door with a lock that genuinely worked.

   Every weapon in the scene was practical, capable of firing blanks on cue.

   Similarworking, functional, functioning, operational

   Oppositefake, nonfunctional

   Note

   A backstage word with stricter grammar than the everyday adjective. A prop either works or it does not, so it cannot be more or most practical the way the everyday useful meaning can. A tap that runs or a lock that turns is simply practical. The same idea also stands as a noun, a working prop, which crews use as a label of its own.

7. 7
   adjective

   Of a light source: serving as actual set lighting while remaining visible within the shot as part of the scenery.

   The cinematographer relied on practical lighting from the table lamps in the room.

   Each practical fixture in the diner set had to read naturally on camera.

   Note

   The cinematographer's adjective is almost always heard in practical lighting or practical light. A lamp, candle or neon sign belongs to the set dressing and sits visibly in frame, yet it also does real work lighting the shot. Its purpose is believability: light that seems to come from the room itself helps sell the scene as a real situation.

8. 8
   nouncountable

   A prop that actually performs its function rather than being a mere imitation.

   The props master labeled each practical so the crew knew which items truly worked.

   For the fight scene they needed a practical that could spray fake blood.

   Note

   Backstage shorthand for a working object: the adjective in a "practical" prop turned into a noun. Because a practical is handled as it would be in real life, it raises problems a dummy never does. A radio switched on by an actor must sound like a radio, so the sound designer shapes the recording to keep the sense of that medium. Film crews use the same noun for a lamp seen in the shot.

9. 9
   nouncountable

   A light fixture that provides real set lighting while appearing within the frame as part of the scenery.

   The string lights above the bar served as practicals during the night shoot.

   Cinematographers love a practical that flatters the actors while staying in shot.

   Note

   On a lit set, the noun names the fixture in shot that truly lights up. Francis Reid's The Stage Lighting Handbook (2001) draws the line exactly: a naturalistic room is dressed with its real light fittings, and only those that actually light count as practicals. The word serves the stage as well as the screen, and it shares its idea with the lighting adjective.

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