practiced

1. 1
   verbUS

   Simple past and past participle of practice.

   The team practiced their drills every afternoon before the big game.

   He had practiced medicine for years before opening his own clinic.

   Note

   The ordinary verb form does double duty as past and participle: they practiced daily; she has practiced law; the move was practiced until it was automatic. American English uses one spelling, practice, for both noun and verb, so the verb's past keeps the c. Where the verb is spelled practise, the form becomes practised, as with the adjective for skilled.

2. 2
   adjective

   Skillful and expert at a task as a result of repeated practice or long experience.

   Years of surgery had made her a practiced and confident operator.

   The diplomat handled the hostile questions with practiced calm.

   Similarskilled, expert, experienced, seasoned, adept

   Oppositeinexperienced, unskilled, inept, raw

   Note

   The adjective often praises a manner more than a person: a practiced eye, practiced calm, a practiced hand. It takes in before the skill, as in practiced in the art of or practiced in negotiation, and it compares with more and most. Norman Lindsay's Age of Consent (1938) spells it practised, the form used where the verb is practise. American English writes practiced.

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