procedural knowledge

Meanings

1. 1noununcountable

   Knowing how to carry out a skill or task, such as riding a bicycle, often without being able to explain every step.

   Grammar: Uncountable: she has a lot of procedural knowledge, not procedural knowledges.

   Patterns

   • procedural knowledge of something
   • procedural knowledge about how to do something

   Tying your shoelaces is procedural knowledge that most adults never think about.

   Cooking classes build procedural knowledge through repeated practice.

   Her procedural knowledge of the software made her the team's go-to person.

2. 2noununcountablecomputing

   In computing and artificial intelligence, knowledge stored as steps or rules that a system follows to perform tasks.

   Grammar: Uncountable and used in technical contexts.

   Patterns

   • encode procedural knowledge

   Early expert systems stored procedural knowledge as sequences of rules.

   The program encodes procedural knowledge about how to schedule flights.

   Researchers compared how robots acquire procedural knowledge through trial and error.

Common combinations

acquire procedural knowledge

Apprentices acquire procedural knowledge by working beside experts.

build procedural knowledge

Practice helps students build procedural knowledge.

procedural knowledge and declarative knowledge

Teachers often distinguish procedural knowledge and declarative knowledge.

rely on procedural knowledge

Musicians rely on procedural knowledge when they perform.

develop procedural knowledge

Children develop procedural knowledge by repeating actions.

Synonyms and how they differ

know-how

It is the everyday, informal equivalent and lacks the technical flavor of procedural knowledge.

skill

It names the ability itself, whereas procedural knowledge names the type of knowing behind it.

practical knowledge

It is a broader phrase that includes any useful real-world experience, not only step-by-step routines.

expertise

It suggests a high level of advanced skill, where procedural knowledge can be basic.

Opposites

Word family

procedure noun

a set of steps for doing something

procedural adjective

relating to a procedure

proceed verb

to go forward or continue

knowledge noun

what is known or understood

Commonly confused: procedural knowledge or declarative knowledge?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “procedural knowledge”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words