Practical means it works in real life, not only on paper. A practical solution is one you can carry out on a Tuesday, with the tools you already own.
Said of a person, practical means good at doing and fixing things and sensible about what will actually work: she is very practical, he is hopeless at anything practical. Said of objects, it means chosen for use rather than for looks, as in practical shoes or a practical little car. At school and university a practical is the lesson where you do the experiment instead of hearing about it, and a driving test has a practical part. Two traps. A practical joke is not a useful one, it is a trick played to make other people laugh. And the adverb practically has drifted away from the adjective: practically empty means nearly empty.
1adjectiveworkableUseful and able to work in a real situation.
“We need a practical plan, not a beautiful one.”
synonyms: workable, feasible
2adjectivepracticalGood at making, fixing and organising real things.
“My sister is far more practical than I am; she rewired the whole kitchen.”
3adjectiveconcernedConcerned with doing something rather than with theory.
“The course includes practical training in a real hospital.”
4adjectivechosenChosen for usefulness rather than for appearance.
“She wore practical boots for the walk up the hill.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
Practical walked into English in the Middle Ages wearing several coats, spelled practical, practicale and praktycall before the spelling settled, all from Medieval Latin practicālis. It belongs to the family of doing rather than thinking, alongside practice, practise and practitioner. The root recorded behind the chain is Proto-Indo-European *per-.
Proto-Indo-European
*per- (fare)
Medieval Latin
practicālis
Middle English
practical
English, today
practical
From Middle English practical, practicale, praktycall, from Medieval Latin practicālis.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA