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.

Practical vs Ideal - What's the difference?

practical | ideal |

As nouns the difference between practical and ideal

is that practical is (british) a part of an exam or series of exams in which the candidate has to demonstrate their practical ability while ideal is ideal (perfect standard).

As an adjective practical

is based on practice or action rather than theory or hypothesis.

practical

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (British) A part of an exam or series of exams in which the candidate has to demonstrate their practical ability

    • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Based on practice or action rather than theory or hypothesis
    • Jack didn't get an engineering degree, but has practical knowledge of metalworking.
  • Being likely to be effective and applicable to a real situation; able to be put to use
    • Jack's knowledge has the practical benefit of giving us useful prototype parts.
  • Of a person, having skills or knowledge that are practical
    • All in all, Jack's a very practical chap

    Antonyms

    * (based on practice or action) theoretical * (being likely to effective and applicable to a real situation) impractical * (of a person) impractical

    Derived terms

    * practicality * practically

    Related terms

    * practicable * practice * practise * practitioner

    External links

    * *

    ideal

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Optimal; being the best possibility.
  • Perfect, flawless, having no defects.
  • * Rambler
    • There will always be a wide interval between practical and ideal excellence.
  • Pertaining to ideas, or to a given idea.
  • Existing only in the mind; conceptual, imaginary.
  • * 1796 , Matthew Lewis, The Monk , Folio Society 1985, p. 256:
    • The idea of ghosts is ridiculous in the extreme; and if you continue to be swayed by ideal terrors —
  • * 1818 , , [[s:Frankenstein/Chapter 4, Chapter 4],
    • Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.
  • Teaching or relating to the doctrine of idealism.
    • the ideal theory or philosophy
  • (mathematics) Not actually present, but considered as present when limits at infinity are included.
    • ideal point
    An ideal triangle in the hyperbolic disk is one bounded by three geodesics that meet precisely on the circle.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Related terms

    * ideality * idealless * ideally * idealism * idealistic * idealize

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A perfect standard of beauty, intellect etc., or a standard of excellence to aim at.
    • Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny -
  • (mathematics, order theory) A non-empty]] lower set (of a partially ordered set) which is [[closure, closed under binary suprema (a.k.a. joins).[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_prime_ideal_theorem#Prime_ideal_theorems]
    • If (1) the empty set were called a "small" set, and (2) any subset of a "small" set were also a "small" set, and (3) the union of any pair of "small" sets were also a "small" set, then the set of all "small" sets would form an ideal .
  • (for example, algebra) A subring closed under multiplication by its containing ring.
    • Let \mathbb{Z} be the ring of integers and let 2\mathbb{Z} be its ideal of even integers. Then the quotient ring \mathbb{Z} / 2\mathbb{Z} is a Boolean ring.
    The product of two ideals \mathfrak{a} and \mathfrak{b} is an ideal \mathfrak{a b} which is a subset of the intersection of \mathfrak{a} and \mathfrak{b}. This should help to understand why maximal ideals' are prime ' ideals . Likewise, the union of \mathfrak{a} and \mathfrak{b} is a subset of \mathfrak{a + b}.

    Antonyms

    * (order theory) filter

    Derived terms

    * left ideal * right ideal * two-sided ideal * principal ideal

    External links

    * (wikipedia)

    Anagrams

    * ----