What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Apply vs Exercise - What's the difference?

apply | exercise |

In obsolete terms the difference between apply and exercise

is that apply is to visit while exercise is to set in action; to cause to act, move, or make exertion; to give employment to.

As verbs the difference between apply and exercise

is that apply is to lay or place; to put or adjust (one thing to another);—with to; as, to apply the hand to the breast; to apply medicaments to a diseased part of the body while exercise is to exert for the sake of training or improvement; to practice in order to develop.

As an adjective apply

is an alternative spelling of lang=en.

As a noun exercise is

any activity designed to develop or hone a skill or ability.

apply

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) applier, ((etyl) appliquer), from (etyl) . See applicant, ply.

Verb

(en-verb)
  • To lay or place; to put or adjust (one thing to another);—with to; as, to apply the hand to the breast; to apply medicaments to a diseased part of the body.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , author= , title=Translation of Virgil's Aeneid , passage=He said, and to the sword his throat applied . , year=1697}}
  • To put to use; to use or employ for a particular purpose, or in a particular case; to appropriate; to devote; as, to apply money to the payment of a debt.
  • To make use of, declare, or pronounce, as suitable, fitting, or relative; as, to apply the testimony to the case; to apply an epithet to a person.
  • * (rfdate) Milton,
  • Yet God at last To Satan, first in sin, his doom applied .
  • To fix closely; to engage and employ diligently, or with attention; to attach; to incline.
  • * 1611 , '', ''Proverbs 23:12,
  • Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
  • To betake; to address; to refer; generally used reflexively.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • sacred vows applied to grisly Pluto
  • * (rfdate) Johnson
  • I applied myself to him for help.
  • To submit oneself as a candidate (with the adposition "to" designating the recipient of the submission, and the adposition "for" designating the position).
  • I recently applied to the tavern for a job as a bartender.
    Most of the colleges she applied to were ones she thought she had a good chance of getting into.
    Many of them don't know it, but almost a third of the inmates are eligible to apply for parole or work-release programs.
  • To pertain or be relevant to a specified individual or group.
  • That rule only applies to foreigners.
  • (obsolete) To busy; to keep at work; to ply.
  • * Sir Philip Sidney
  • She was skillful in applying his humours.
  • (obsolete) To visit.
  • * Chapman
  • His armour was so clear, / And he applied each place so fast, that like a lightning thrown / Out of the shield of Jupiter, in every eye he shone.
    (Webster 1913)

    Etymology 2

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • References

    *

    Anagrams

    *

    exercise

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any activity designed to develop or hone a skill or ability.
  • :
  • *(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • *:desire of knightly exercise
  • *(John Locke) (1632-1705)
  • *:an exercise of the eyes and memory
  • Physical activity intended to improve strength and fitness.
  • *
  • *:This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking.He was smooth-faced, and his fresh skin and well-developed figure bespoke the man in good physical condition through active exercise , yet well content with the world's apportionment.
  • A setting in action or practicing; employment in the proper mode of activity; exertion; application; use.
  • *(Thomas Jefferson) (1743-1826)
  • *:exercise of the important function confided by the constitution to the legislature
  • * (1809-1892)
  • *:O we will walk this world, / Yoked in all exercise of noble end.
  • The performance of an office, ceremony, or duty.
  • *(Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
  • *:Lewis refused even those of the church of Englandthe public exercise of their religion.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:to draw him from his holy exercise
  • (lb) That which gives practice; a trial; a test.
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:Patience is more oft the exercise / Of saints, the trial of their fortitude.
  • Alternative forms

    * exercice * excercise

    Derived terms

    * exercise book * exercise machine * five-finger exercise * floor exercise * military exercise

    Verb

    (exercis)
  • To exert for the sake of training or improvement; to practice in order to develop.
  • :
  • To perform physical activity for health or training.
  • :
  • To use (a right, an option, etc.); to put into practice.
  • :
  • :
  • *Bible, (w) xxii. 29
  • *:The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery.
  • To occupy the attention and effort of; to task; to tax, especially in a painful or vexatious manner; harass; to vex; to worry or make anxious.
  • :
  • *(and other bibliographic particulars for citation) (John Milton)
  • *:Where pain of unextinguishable fire / Must exercise us without hope of end.
  • (lb) To set in action; to cause to act, move, or make exertion; to give employment to.
  • *Bible, (w) xxiv. 16
  • *:Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence.
  • *
  • *:Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence.