technique

American  

[tek-neek] / tɛkˈnik /

noun

• techniques
  plural

1. the manner and ability with which an artist, writer, dancer, athlete, or the like employs the technical skills of a particular art or field of endeavor.

2. the body of specialized procedures and methods used in any specific field, especially in an area of applied science.

3. method of performance; way of accomplishing.

4. technical skill; ability to apply procedures or methods so as to effect a desired result.

5. Informal. method of projecting personal charm, appeal, etc..

   He has the greatest technique with customers.

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technique British  

/ tɛkˈniːk /

noun

1. a practical method, skill, or art applied to a particular task

2. proficiency in a practical or mechanical skill

3. special facility; knack

   he had the technique of turning everything to his advantage

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• techniques
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of technique

First recorded in 1810–20; from French: “technical” (adjective), “technic” (noun), from Greek technikós, techniká; see technic

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Explanation

A technique is a method of doing some task or performing something. Your technique for opening drinks might be to twist the top off with your teeth. If so, your dentist better have a good tooth-repair technique. The noun technique can also refer to someone's skillfulness with the fundamentals of a particular task. A violinist could have excellent technique, but lack passion, for example. Writers usually have very individual writing techniques: One might need to write late at night and another early in the morning; some have to write by hand on paper, while others always use the computer.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

technique techniques

"Caleb resurrected a statistical technique from a bygone era," said co-author Jacques Gauthier, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Yale and curator-in-charge for vertebrate paleontology at the Peabody Museum.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 25, 2026

One important advantage of the proposed technique is that scientists could begin investigating and refining it using ordinary biological samples.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 24, 2026

In this technique artists take a wet image and cover certain areas with waterproof objects, then use a strong gust of air to remove the unprotected surface, creating ghostly voids.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

Investigating these changes requires exceptionally precise equipment, including synchrotron X-ray diffraction, a technique that reveals the arrangement of atoms inside crystalline materials.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026

“I would rather you do three hours of conditioning than for you to do poor technique on your gymnastics,” she’d say.

From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles

Such techniques were pioneered by direct-air capture companies such as Climeworks and Heirloom, which largely focus on selling carbon credits to companies needing to lower their overall emissions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026

Every three months, Davidoff works with a data-breach services company called NetDiligence to poll a group of her peers about the techniques they are seeing in real-world cyberattacks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026

Using advanced computational techniques, the team identified a different underlying structure.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 24, 2026

Siddhant Marwah, a final-year student, joined the school to acquire "French techniques that represent the quintessence of culinary expertise."

From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026

And all of the ballyhooed techniques used by the armies of market researchers at CBS utterly failed to distinguish between these two very different emotions.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

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Related Words

• approach
• art
• capability
• capacity
• craft
• facility
• know-how
• manner
• means
• mode
• performance
• procedure
• routine
• skill
• style
• system

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