Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

best practice

American  

noun

Chiefly Business.
  1. Often best practices a procedure or set of procedures that is preferred or considered standard within an organization, industry, etc..

    The company adopted best practice in employee recruitment.

    At the meeting we reviewed best practices for communicating with clients.

    Their methodology was identified as a best practice.


best practice British  

noun

  1. the recognized methods of correctly running businesses or providing services

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of best practice

First recorded in 1980–85; derived from an earlier (1905) sense “the best method, procedure, etc.”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

“The ethical and sort of best practice would be for the attorney general’s office to hire an independent special investigator to look into the complaint,” Gonzalez said.

From Salon Jul. 18, 2026

A West Ham spokesperson told the BBC that aside from parties directly involved in the safeguarding process, no other external parties were notified due to "best practice safeguarding agreed with independent external bodies".

From BBC Jun. 11, 2026

He said that Gaelcholáiste Dhoire worked with English-language schools in the area to share best practice.

From BBC May 27, 2026

That’s not because the travel industry has a hard-and-fast rule about when to buy flights, but because the loosely understood best practice of a one-to-three-month advance window for nonholiday travel hasn’t arrived yet.

From Slate May 12, 2026

The best practice for transposing is to transpose a piece you know well into a new key.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training