ad hoc
for the special purpose or end presently under consideration: a committee formed ad hoc to deal with the issue.
concerned or dealing with a specific subject, purpose, or end: The ad hoc committee disbanded after making its final report.
Origin of ad hoc
1Words that may be confused with ad hoc
- ad hoc , a posteriori, a priori, ex post facto, prima facie
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use ad hoc in a sentence
Congress keeps funding it ad hoc—but when the GOP takes over the Senate next year, who knows.
To GOP Congress, as Usual, It’s Welfare on the Chopping Block | Monica Potts | December 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAn ad hoc network, Bibles, Badges & Business, represents the diversity of the pro-reform lobby.
Even Conservative Evangelical Support Couldn’t Save Immigration Reform | Jacob Lupfer | July 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe ad hoc granular alliances described in Unstoppable promise less but may achieve more.
During the dozen years or so since the R2P concept was formulated, its application has been complicated and ad hoc.
Still a Problem From Hell, Two Decades After Rwanda | John Prendergast | April 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe stones had been pulled up to create ad-hoc fortifications around the Maidan.
Cert ante hoc tempus vix vnquam Gallis vacatum fuit conuertdis incolarum ad Christum animis.
In hoc Isthmo portus regalis est, vbi nunc degimus, ad gradum latitudinis quadragesimum quartum cum besse.
Et reliqua sunt huic cert habitationi ac nostr professioni, hoc est, paupertati 90 csentanea.
Responderunt omnes sibi hoc satis esse, reliqua sese reiecturos.
Paruerunt illi, atq ad nos depositum triduo pst, hoc est semianim detulerunt.
British Dictionary definitions for ad hoc
/ (æd ˈhɒk) /
for a particular purpose only; lacking generality or justification: an ad hoc decision; an ad hoc committee
Origin of ad hoc
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for ad hoc
[ (ad hok, ad hohk) ]
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with ad hoc
For the special purpose or end at hand; also, by extension, improvised or impromptu. The term, Latin for “to this,” is most often used for committees established for a specific purpose, as in The committee was formed ad hoc to address health insurance problems. The term is also used as an adjective (An ad hoc committee was formed), and has given rise to the noun adhocism for the tendency to use temporary, provisional, or improvised methods to deal with a particular problem. [Early 1600s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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