practicing

1. 1
   verbUS

   Present participle and gerund of practice.

   The students were practicing their lines for the play.

   Practicing every day improved her tennis serve.

   Note

   The American spelling of the verb's -ing form. Practice as a verb is the US alternative to practise, so where practise is the norm the same participle is spelled practising. The spelling carries over to the adjectives and to the noun of the act. The verb form serves both the progressive tenses (were practicing their lines) and the gerund (Practicing every day helped).

2. 2
   adjective

   Actively working in a particular profession rather than retired or merely qualified.

   As a practicing attorney, she spends most of her days in court.

   Only practicing physicians may renew this specialized license.

   Similarworking, active

   Oppositeretired, former

   Note

   It sits directly before the name of a profession: a practicing dentist, a practicing attorney. It admits no degrees, so no one is more practicing than a colleague. The word draws on the noun practice in its professional sense, the ongoing pursuit of a calling, especially medicine. That is also why a doctor's place of work can itself be called a practice.

3. 3
   adjective

   Actively taking part in the rituals and customs of a religion.

   A practicing Jew, he observes the Sabbath each week.

   Many practicing Buddhists meditate daily and follow strict dietary rules.

   Similarobservant, devout, committed, active

   Oppositelapsed, nominal, secular

   Note

   Religion takes this word from the noun practice in its sense of observing the duties a church asks of its members. It usually stands before the name of an adherent, as in a practicing Jew or practicing Buddhists, and marks observance rather than mere belonging. Like the professional sense, it takes no degrees: one is practicing or not.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   The act performed by a person who practices a skill or profession.

   The practicing of medicine demands both knowledge and compassion.

   Years of steady practicing turned the novice into a master.

   Similarexercise, pursuit, training, rehearsal

   Note

   A full noun rather than a verbal one: it takes an article and an of-phrase (the practicing of medicine), and it can even be counted, with the plural practicings. The gerund in the verb form works differently, taking a direct object with no article: practicing medicine. Choosing between the two constructions is mostly a matter of rhythm. The noun version sounds weightier and more formal.

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