How to use practical in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun

Practical means relating to, or based on, practice or action rather than theory or hypothesis. Example: “Jack didn't get an engineering degree, but has practical knowledge of metalworking.”

Examples of practical by meaning

adjectiveRelating to, or based on, practice or action rather than theory or hypothesis.

Jack didn't get an engineering degree, but has practical knowledge of metalworking.
Modern engineering applies science to practical problems.

adjectiveBeing likely to be effective and applicable to a real situation; able to be put to use.

Jack's knowledge has the practical benefit of giving us useful prototype parts.
Recruits will be taught in-depth electrical and mechanical engineering as well as gaining practical experience in rail maintenance.2021 February 24, “Rail industry marks National Apprenticeship Week”, in RAIL, number 925, page 17

adjectiveOf a person, having skills or knowledge that are practical.

All in all, Jack's a very practical chap.

adjectiveLight fixtures used for set lighting and seen in the frame of a shot as part of the scenery.

Practical lighting can help sell the illusion that the film is a real situation.

nounA prop that has some degree of functionality, rather than being a mere imitation.

Practicals are used onstage as they would be used in real life.2013, Deena Kaye, James LeBrecht, Sound and Music for the Theatre: The Art & Technique of Design

nounA light fixture used for set lighting and seen in the frame of a shot as part of the scenery.

This includes electric light fittings which, when they actually light, are known as practicals.2001, Francis Reid, The Stage Lighting Handbook, page 124

More sentences with practical

The class put a whoopee cushion on the teacher's chair as a practical joke.From the entry practical joke
He has a textbook understanding of company law but no practical experience of litigation.From the entry textbook
His practical joke misfired and he nearly burnt my left hand.From the entry misfire
Our simple-pattern stainless flatware is the bottom of the line, but very practical.From the entry bottom of the line
Jaseys may be cheaper and more practical, but a real hair wig has more class.From the entry jasey
This creek is too small to be paddleable in any practical sense; portage is the sensible option.From the entry paddleable
She wore ho-hum clothes, but practical ones.From the entry ho-hum
They are so puckish for their love of practical jokes.From the entry puckish
My new car looks sporty but is actually very practical.From the entry sporty
He was so starry-eyed when he started, but reality ground him down, and he became both more realistic and more practical.From the entry starry-eyed
She soon discovered that bralessness was not practical when running.From the entry bralessness
The ferry boat is too big to be paddleable in any practical sense; reliable engine power is crucial.From the entry paddleable
He thinks of himself as a latter-day knight errant, out on a quest fighting dragons. It’s not very practical, but it is romantic.From the entry latter-day
In this discussion, we will lump together various breeds of spaniels, because the differences among them don't matter for our practical purposes here.From the entry lump together
The earliest Wabanaki baskets were strong and bulky; practical tools for everyday life.2026 May, Hannah Martin, “Fancy Baskets”, in Architectural Digest, volume 83, number 4, page 97. From the entry basket
Apprenticeships are also a useful way of teaching the practical, hands-on skills that the modern railway needs.2023 March 8, Neil Robertson, “Tackling the skills shortage”, in RAIL, number 978, page 33. From the entry cohort
Some of his allies miss the old Zelensky, the practical joker with the boyish smile.December 7 2022, Simon Shuster, “2022 Person of the Year: Volodymyr Zelensky”, in Time, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2023. From the entry practical joker
The score, moreover, aims to provide practical guidance in finding a macrolocation for new warehouses.2022, Florian Diehlmann, Facility Location Planning in Relief Logistics, page 147. From the entry macrolocation
It seems that the skeptical challenges, though theoretically unimpeachable, have objectionable practical consequences.2020 June 9, Kelly Arenson, The Routledge Handbook of Hellenistic Philosophy, Routledge, →ISBN. From the entry apraxia
In the short to medium term, there appears to be no practical alternative to petroleum-based traction power.2020 May 6, Prof. Andrew McNaughton, “Time to challenge some sacred philosophies of recent years”, in Rail, page 35. From the entry long-distance
But baconmandering wouldn’t be practical for a district as far from Chicago as Underwood’s.2020 November 18, Edward McClelland, “If the Dems Are Smart, They’ll Draw Underwood a Better Map”, in Chicago. From the entry baconmandering
It is another way of effing the ineffable, one with potentially serious practical effects.2018, Wesley J. Wildman, Effing the Ineffable: Existential Mumblings at the Limits of Language, page 83. From the entry eff
In the long run, Majoranas could find practical application in making quantum computers more secure.2017 July 21, Michael Irving, “Scientists discover "angel particle" that is its own antiparticle”, in New Atlas. From the entry angel particle
It came about as a practical necessity but it married perfectly to the philosophy of the president.2016 May 26, Carlo Ancelotti, Quiet Leadership: Winning Hearts, Minds and Matches, Penguin UK, →ISBN. From the entry Christmas tree
Google Earth from street view to satellite overview is the practical paradigmatic example of zoomability.2015, Andreas Treske, Video Theory, page 68. From the entry zoomability
In two dimensions, when significant care is taken, they are competitive practical rootfinders.2015, Vanni Noferini, Alex Townsend, “Are resultant methods numerically unstable for multidimensional rootfinding?”, in (Please provide…. From the entry rootfinder
Nanojoining facilitates the assembly of nano-sized building blocks to form practical products.2014 March 13, Xiaoying Qi, Tey Ju Nie, Ho Xinning, “Process of Nanojoining”, in Handbook of Manufacturing Engineering and Technology…. From the entry nanojoining
In fact, the earliest practical uses of trigonometry were in the fields of astronomy and hence navigation.2013, Paul Abbott, Hugh Neill, Trigonometry: A Complete Introduction, Hachette, unnumbered page. From the entry trigonometry
Broadly speaking, the September that Never Ended, for all practical purposes, still hasn't ended.2012 June 20, Krypsis, quoting MotoFox, “OT for cooking, but OT for newsgroups/usenet^([sic])”, in rec.food.cooking (Usenet), archived…. From the entry September That Never Ended
For practical reasons, the numbers are slightly rounded, as shown in table 1.5 for R5 and R10.2010, Göran Grimvall, “Chapter 1: Numbers”, in Quantify! A Crash Course in Smart Thinking, Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN. From the entry denomination
However, research preponders towards practical applications, for example, evaluation of two advertising appeals.2009, K. N. Krishnaswamy, Appa Iyer Sivakumar, M. Mathirajan, Management Research Methodology. From the entry preponder
He explained too the practical assistance she provides on days when he feels underinspired.2009 August 10, Alastair Macaulay, “Highlighting a Muse’s Full Résumé”, in New York Times. From the entry underinspired

Meaning of practical

adjective Relating to, or based on, practice or action rather than theory or hypothesis.
adjective Being likely to be effective and applicable to a real situation; able to be put to use.
adjective Of a person, having skills or knowledge that are practical.

Full definition of practical

Questions about practical in a sentence

How do you use practical in a sentence?: Practical is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “Jack didn't get an engineering degree, but has practical knowledge of metalworking.”
What is a short sentence with practical?: “Modern engineering applies science to practical problems.”
What does practical mean?: Practical means relating to, or based on, practice or action rather than theory or hypothesis.

Adapted from Wiktionary: practical (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use practical in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/practical. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.