applied

[uh-plahyd]

adjective

1. having a practical purpose or use; derived from or involved with actual phenomena (theoretical,pure ).

   applied mathematics; applied science.

2. of or relating to those arts or crafts that have a primarily utilitarian function, or to the designs and decorations used in these arts.

   Her goal was to integrate aesthetics into everyday life through an applied art, particularly with her hand-painted dinner plates.

applied

/ əˈplaɪd /

adjective

1. related to or put to practical use Compare pure

   applied mathematics

Other Word Forms

• unapplied adjective
• well-applied adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of applied¹

First recorded in 1490–1500; apply + -ed ²

Example Sentences

He would maintain, decade after decade, that style “is nothing less than the writer’s habits of mind—it is not a kind of paint applied afterwards, but the very germ of the thing.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Fausone got his bachelor’s degree in applied behavior analysis when he was in his 30s to help him as he home-schooled his son, who has autism.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

MacPhail woke at 2:20 a.m. and applied toe caps, duct tape and Vaseline to his feet.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

GM shut down production in December of that year and applied for permission to close that factory.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Mexican government agreed to pay up to $3,800 to each surviving bracero who lived in the U.S., but Alvarado never applied.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• enforced www.thesaurus.com
• practiced 
• tested www.thesaurus.com