Meaning & use
best practices
Last updated
“best practices” is a form of “best practice”.
Meaning
nounpluralbusiness
Methods or ways of working that experts agree give the most reliable and successful results in a particular field.
Grammar: Usually plural: follow best practices.
Patterns
- best practices for something
- best practices in something
The training covers best practices for protecting customer data.
Hospitals share best practices to reduce infections.
Following best practices saved the team from many errors.
Common combinations
- follow best practices
- Developers should follow best practices when storing passwords.
- share best practices
- The schools meet monthly to share best practices.
- industry best practices
- The firm meets industry best practices for safety.
- adopt best practices
- The city adopted best practices from other regions.
- best practices guide
- A best practices guide is posted on the intranet.
Synonyms and how they differ
- standard practice
- Standard practice describes what is normally done, while best practices describes what is considered the very best, which may not be common yet.
- guidelines
- Guidelines are written instructions that may be advice or rules, whereas best practices are the methods proven to work.
- proven methods
- Proven methods is plain English for the same idea without jargon.
- benchmarks
- Benchmarks are measures to compare against, not the methods themselves.
Opposites
Word family
- practice noun
- a usual way of doing something
- practice verb
- to do repeatedly to improve
- practitioner noun
- a person who works in a field
- practical adjective
- useful in real situations
Commonly confused: best practices or best practice?
best practices vs best practice
Best practice is the singular form used as an uncountable noun; best practices refers to a set of several methods.
Practice
A manager asks the team to follow best practices. She wants them to...
Choose one answer.
Best practices are the most reliable, expert-approved ways to do something. Working faster might result, but it is not the meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “best practices”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.