conduct

American  

[kon-duhkt, kuhn-duhkt] / ˈkɒn dʌkt, kənˈdʌkt /

noun

1. personal behavior; way of acting; bearing or deportment.

   Synonyms:

   manners, actions, comportment, demeanor

2. direction or management; administration.

   the conduct of a business.

   Synonyms:

   government, guidance

3. the act of conducting; guidance.

   The curator's conduct through the museum was informative.

4. Obsolete. a guide; an escort.

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verb (used with object)

• conducts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• conducted,
  past participle,  past
• conducting
  present participle

1. to behave or manage (oneself).

   He conducted himself well.

   Synonyms:

   bear, deport

2. to direct in action or course; manage; carry on: to conduct a test.

   to conduct a meeting;

   to conduct a test.

   Synonyms:

   administer, supervise

3. to direct (an orchestra, chorus, etc.) as leader.

4. to lead or guide; escort.

   to conduct a tour.

5. to serve as a channel or medium for (heat, electricity, sound, etc.).

   Copper conducts electricity.

verb (used without object)

• conducts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• conducted,
  past participle,  past
• conducting
  present participle

1. to lead.

2. to act as conductor, or leader of a musical group, by communicating a specific interpretation of the music to the performers by motions of a baton or the hands.

conduct British  

noun

1. the manner in which a person behaves; behaviour

2. the way of managing a business, affair, etc; handling

3. rare the act of guiding or leading

4. rare a guide or leader

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verb

1. (tr) to accompany and guide (people, a party, etc) (esp in the phrase conducted tour )

2. (tr) to lead or direct (affairs, business, etc); control

3. (tr) to do or carry out

   conduct a survey

4. (tr) to behave or manage (oneself)

   the child conducted himself well

5. Also (esp US): direct.  to control or guide (an orchestra, choir, etc) by the movements of the hands or a baton

6. to transmit (heat, electricity, etc)

   metals conduct heat

Usage

What are other ways to say conduct?

To conduct oneself is to behave or manage oneself. To conduct a tour is to lead or guide it. How does conduct compare to synonyms guide, direct, and lead? Find out on Thesaurus.com.

Synonym Usage

See behavior.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• conductibility
  noun
• nonconductibility
  noun
• preconduct
  verb (used with object)
• reconduct
  verb (used with object)
• conductible
  adjective
• nonconductible
  adjective
• unconductible
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• conducting
  present
• conducted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• conduct
  simple
• conducts
  simple
• have conducted
  perfect
• has conducted
  perfect
• am conducting
  progressive
• are conducting
  progressive
• is conducting
  progressive
• have been conducting
  perfect progressive
• has been conducting
  perfect progressive

Past

• conducted
  simple
• had conducted
  perfect
• was conducting
  progressive
• were conducting
  progressive
• had been conducting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will conduct
  simple
• will have conducted
  perfect
• will be conducting
  progressive
• will have been conducting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of conduct

First recorded in 1250–1300; late Middle English, from Medieval Latin conductus “escort,” noun use of Latin conductus (past participle of condūcere “to lead, bring together”), equivalent to con- con- + duc- “to lead” + -tus past participle suffix; replacing Middle English conduyt(e), from Anglo-French, from Latin as above; see conduit; conduce

Explanation

The noun conduct refers to behavior, like how students are rewarded for good conduct. The verb conduct means carry something through, as in "to conduct a survey." And if you lead an orchestra, you conduct it. Your conduct (accent on the first syllable), or your own behavior, is the way you conduct (accent on the second syllable), or lead, yourself. Keep the accent on the second syllable to conduct, or lead, an orchestra, and to conduct an interview by asking someone questions. Also, metals like copper or gold conduct electricity by letting the electricity pass through.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

conduct conducts conducted conducting

"The government told us that this is not an appropriate time to conduct this conference," he told AFP.

From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026

"Fifa president Gianni Infantino strongly denies these allegations, and they are categorically untrue. Any insinuation of inappropriate conduct or violation of statutes or regulations is defamatory," a Fifa spokesman told the Telegraph.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

In the New Mexico case, the First Judicial Court in Santa Fe determined that Meta’s conduct created a “public nuisance” and ordered the company to create a fund to remedy harms.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

The team plans to conduct larger studies to verify the initial results and evaluate whether NEUSLeeP could help people with PTSD, depression and chronic insomnia.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

“My answer has invariably been that I had never discovered any thing in the conduct of Mr. Jefferson to raise suspicions in my mind of his insincerity.”

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Gold is prized in electronic circuits because it conducts electricity well and does not corrode.

From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026

“He’s playing better than most of the professional pianists I’ve worked with,” says Hurwitz, who regularly conducts “La La Land in Concert.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026

To complicate things, Murderbot has installed a mental-health module that conducts “emotion checks” whenever the cyborg’s organic-neural tissue starts to “generate weird chemicals and whatever.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

"You see the way he conducts himself and the way he walks - it is like he belongs there."

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

Deep inside is the oldest part, the brainstem, which conducts the basic biological functions, including the rhythms of life—heartbeat and respiration.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

"Skytraders has conducted winter medevacs previously, but never this close to the winter solstice," he told the paper.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

If the performance evaluation is conducted honestly and based on merit, she said, the commission has nothing to fear.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

This microbial community was first documented in a 2019 study conducted with Eurac Research.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

The Instagram and Facebook owner said that one of its AI models was able to access the internet because of a “misconfiguration” in a hacking test conducted by a third-party AI testing company.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

From that point forward, there wasn’t a tournament Bobby played in or an exhibition he conducted that wasn’t pre-ballyhooed by a press release Regina sent to the media.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

There, electrically conducting molten iron circulates around the solid inner core.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

The message was short and asked for patience, and it promised Rupireddy the firm was conducting “a comprehensive review.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Police said that the county medical examiner would determine the cause of death and that the department was conducting an investigation “to determine if any criminal incident occurred.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026

On Sunday, two Bell helicopters collided while conducting firefighting operations near Psatha.

From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026

As usual, he found her in the windowed room at the back, conducting experiments for the advancement of knowledge toward the benefit of all.

From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el

Related Words

• attend
• control
• direct
• handle
• keep
• manage
• operate
• order
• organize
• oversee
• regulate
• run
• supervise