method

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛθəd/
• (Dublin) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛtət/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛθəd
• Hyphenation: meth‧od

Etymology 1

From Middle French methode, from Latin methodus, from Ancient Greek μέθοδος (méthodos).

Noun

method (countable and uncountable, plural methods)

1. (countable) A process by which a task is completed; a way of doing something (followed by the adposition of, to or for before the purpose of the process).

   If one method doesn't work, you should ask a friend to help you.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter III, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.

   • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 101, number 3, archived from the original on 17 July 2013, pages 206–7:

     Many insects probably use this strategy, which is a close analogy to crypsis in the visible world—camouflage and other methods for blending into one’s visual background.

2. (uncountable) Systematicity, methodicalness, intentionality, order
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 261, column 2:

     Though this be madneſſe, / Yet there is Method in 't: […]

   • 1980 December 6, “Mousie Mousie Wildflower (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 20, page 14:

     There's method in the universe.
     We're lucky that things aren't worse.

3. (acting, often "the method") A technique for acting based on the ideas articulated by Konstantin Stanislavski and focusing on authentically experiencing the inner life of the character being portrayed.

   Synonym: method acting

   • 1989, Kenneth Branagh, Beginning, London: Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, page 64:

     In this case, the application of the famous method was a little shaky. To be fair, the director was dealing with a pretty stroppy cast.

4. (object-oriented programming) A subroutine or function belonging to a class or object.

   Synonym: member function

   • 2006, David A. Black, David Heinemeier Hansson, Ruby for Rails: Ruby Techniques for Rails Developers, Manning, →ISBN, page 101:

     When you call the method, you provide values corresponding to these variables in your method call.

5. (slang) Marijuana.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marijuana

6. (dated) An instruction book systematically arranged.

Hyponyms

process by which a task is completed

• Abbott's method
• Buteyko method
• Cecchetti method
• chain-ladder method
• Charmat method
• comparative method
• Copeland's method
• dialectical method
• doomsday method
• elenctic method
• Feldenkrais Method
• Fowler's method
• Gutmann method
• historical method
• loverboy method
• methodical
• methodology
• philosophical method
• pure virtual method
• scholarly method
• Schulze method
• scientific method
• Socratic method
• time-domain electromagnetic method
• Wiener-Hopf method

programming, object-oriented: subroutine or function of a class or object

• accessor method
• Blissard's symbolic method
• branch current method
• Castigliano's method
• Chorleywood method
• convenience method
• Debye-Scherrer method
• d'Hondt method
• Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method
• generator method
• getter method
• grid method
• Hardy-Littlewood circle method
• Hartree-Fock method
• Lee-Kesler method
• mutator method
• Nissl method
• setter method
• sexual method
• Tomatis method
• virtual method
• Westergren method
• Yuzpe method

Derived terms

other derived terms (unsorted - many may be hyponyms too

• abstract method
• access method
• annihilator method
• barrier method
• Bates method
• bisection method
• calendar method
• cascade method
• Cash-Karp method
• chakravala method
• combinatorial method
• concrete method
• Condorcet method
• Coppersmith method
• Coppersmith's method
• Cseh method
• Czochralski method
• Dayi method
• D'Hondt method
• Dodgson's method
• Dormand-Prince method
• Duckworth-Lewis method
• Durand-Kerner method
• erotematic method
• Euler method
• Euler's method
• factory method pattern
• Ferber method
• final method
• fluorine method
• Freiburg method
• Fridrich method
• Gauss-Seidel method
• Golgi's method
• Gram's method
• gray rock method
• grey rock method
• Halley's method
• Heun's method
• Horner's method
• Householder's method
• input method
• input method editor
• Jefferson method
• Joback method
• Kjeldahl method
• Korotkoff method
• Kumon method
• Kyropoulos method
• lattice Boltzmann method
• lumen method
• Martindale method
• method actor
• method of indivisibles
• method of loci
• method of Weierstrass
• method overloading
• method to one's madness
• Monte Carlo method
• my very easy method just speeds up naming planets
• Newton-Raphson method
• Newton's method
• plus-minus method
• remote method invocation
• rhythm method
• Runge-Kutta method
• Schwarzschild method
• Schwarzschild's method
• secant method
• summability method
• summation method
• Tabata method
• Taguchi method
• Tanzalin method
• template method
• template method pattern
• test-retest method
• Tukey's method
• Vaganova method
• word method
• Ziehl-Neelsen method
• Ziehl-Neelsen's method

Related terms

• methodic, methodical → methodically
• Methodius
• methodology, methodological (methodologic)

Translations

process by which a task is completed

• Afrikaans: metode (af)
• Albanian: metodë (sq) f
• Arabic: طَرِيقَة (ar) f (ṭarīqa), مِنْهَج m (minhaj), أُسْلُوب m (ʔuslūb), طَرْز m (ṭarz)
• Armenian: եղանակ (hy) (eġanak), մեթոդ (hy) (metʻod), միջոց (hy) (miǰocʻ), կերպ (hy) (kerp)
• Asturian: métodu m
• Azerbaijani: üsul (az), metod
• Bashkir: ысул (ısul)
• Basque: metodo
• Belarusian: ме́тад m (mjétad), мэ́тад m (métad), спо́саб m (spósab), прыём m (pryjóm)
• Bengali: পদ্ধতি (bn) (poddhoti), প্রণালী (pronali)
• Bhojpuri: विधि (vidhi)
• Bulgarian: ме́тод (bg) m (métod), на́чин (bg) m (náčin)
• Burmese: နည်း (my) (nany:), နိဿယ (my) (ni.ssa.ya.)
• Catalan: mètode (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 方法 (fong¹ faat³), 方式 (fong¹ sik¹)

  Hokkien: 方法 (zh-min-nan) (hong-hoat), 方式 (zh-min-nan) (hong-sek)

  Mandarin: 方法 (zh) (fāngfǎ), 方式 (zh) (fāngshì)

  Wu: 方法, 方式 (¹faon-seq)

• Czech: metoda (cs) f, způsob (cs) m
• Danish: metode c
• Dutch: methode (nl) f
• Esperanto: metodo (eo)
• Estonian: meetod, viis (et)
• Finnish: menetelmä (fi), metodi (fi)
• French: méthode (fr) f, manière (fr) f
• Galician: método (gl) m
• Georgian: ხერხი (xerxi), მეთოდი (ka) (metodi)
• German: Art und Weise (de) f, Methode (de) f, Verfahren (de) n
• Greek: μέθοδος (el) f (méthodos)

  Ancient: μέθοδος f (méthodos)

• Hebrew: מֶתוֹדָה (he) f (metóda)
• Hindi: विधि (hi) f (vidhi), तरीक़ा (hi) m (tarīqā), तरह (hi) f (tarah), रीति (hi) (rīti), पद्धति (hi) (paddhati), ढंग (hi) (ḍhaṅg), प्रणाली (hi) (praṇālī)
• Hungarian: módszer (hu), eljárás (hu), metódus (hu), mód (hu), módozat (hu)
• Icelandic: aðferð (is) f, háttur (is) m, skipulag n
• Indonesian: metode (id)
• Irish: slí f
• Italian: metodo (it) m, maniera (it) f
• Japanese: 方法 (ja) (ほうほう, hōhō), 方式 (ja) (ほうしき, hōshiki)
• Kazakh: әдіс (ädıs), ғилаж (ğilaj)
• Khmer: ពិធី (km) (pithii), វិធី (km) (vithii)
• Korean: 방법(方法) (ko) (bangbeop), 방식(方式) (ko) (bangsik)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: rebaz f, metod (ku), awa (ku)

• Kyrgyz: усул (ky) (usul), ыкма (ky) (ıkma), метод (metod)
• Lao: ວິທີ (lo) (wi thī)
• Latin: via (la), methodus (la) f, disciplina f
• Latvian: metode f
• Lithuanian: metodas (lt) m
• Lü: ᦞᦲᧉᦌᦱ (vii²saa)
• Macedonian: метод m (metod), мето́да f (metóda), начин m (način)
• Malay: kaedah, metode, manhaj (ms)
• Maori: pēheatanga, pēwheatanga, aratuka
• Marathi: पद्धत f (paddhat)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: арга (mn) (arga)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: metode (no) m

  Nynorsk: metode m

• Occitan: metòde (oc) m
• Ottoman Turkish: یول (yol)
• Pali: vidhi m
• Pashto: طريقه (ps) f (tariqá), مېتود (ps) m (metód), روش (ps) m (rawéš), طرز m (tarz), شيوه f (šiwá), اسلوب (ps) m (oslúb), نول (ps) m (nol)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: مِتُد (metod), رَوِش (raveš), شیوِه (šive), طَریقِه (tariğe), اُسْلوب (oslub), راه (fa) (râh), طَریق (tariğ), طَرْز (tarz)

• Plautdietsch: Wies f
• Polish: metoda (pl) f, sposób (pl) m
• Portuguese: método (pt) m
• Romanian: metodă (ro) f
• Russian: ме́тод (ru) m (métod), спо́соб (ru) m (spósob), приём (ru) m (prijóm), мето́да (ru) f (metóda) (dated)
• Rwanda-Rundi:

  Kinyarwanda: ukuntu class 15

• Sanskrit: मार्ग (sa) m (mārga), विधि (sa) m (vidhi)
• Scottish Gaelic: cor m, modh m or f, dòigh f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мето́да f, метод m, на́чин m

  Roman: metóda (sh) f, metod m, náčin (sh) m

• Slovak: metóda f, spôsob m
• Slovene: metoda f, način m
• Spanish: método (es) m
• Swedish: metod (sv) c, tillvägagångssätt (sv) n
• Tagalog: pamamaraan
• Tajik: усул (usul), тарз (tarz), тариқ (tariq), метод (metod), равиш (raviš), шива (šiva), тариқа (tariqa), услуб (tg) (uslub)
• Tamil: முறைமை (ta) (muṟaimai), முறை (ta) (muṟai)
• Tatar: ысул (tt) (ısul)
• Telugu: పద్ధతి (te) (paddhati)
• Thai: วิธี (th) (wí-tii)
• Tocharian B: upacār
• Turkish: yöntem (tr), usul (tr), metod (tr), tarz (tr)
• Turkmen: usul, metod
• Tuvan: арга (arga)
• Ukrainian: ме́тод (uk) m (métod), спо́сіб (uk) m (spósib), прийо́м m (pryjóm)
• Urdu: طَرِیقَہ m (tarīqa), طَرَح f (tarah), طَرْح f (tarh), طَرِیق m (tarīq), اُسْلُوب m (uslūb), رَوِش f (raviś), طَرْز (ur) m (tarz)
• Uyghur: تېرىقە (tëriqe), مېتود (mëtod), ئۇسۇل (usul)
• Uzbek: usul (uz), yoʻsin (uz), metod (uz), tariqa (uz), tarz (uz), uslub (uz), yoʻl (uz)
• Vietnamese: phương pháp (vi) (方法), phương thức (vi) (方式)
• Volapük: metod
• Welsh: dull (cy)
• Yiddish: מעטאָד m (metod)
• Zazaki: metod, usul, uslub
• Zulu: icebo (zu) class 5/6, indlela (zu) class 9/10, isu class 5/6

type of acting

• Bashkir: ысул (ısul)
• Finnish: metodinäytteleminen (fi)
• French: La Méthode (fr) f
• Galician: método (gl) m
• Greek: μέθοδος (el) f (méthodos)
• Italian: metodo (it) m
• Korean: 메서드 연기 (meseodeu yeon'gi), 메소드 연기 (mesodeu yeon'gi)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: rêbaz (ku) f

• Romagnol: régula f
• Romanian: metodă (ro) f
• Scottish Gaelic: cor m
• Spanish: method (es)
• Zazaki: uslub

(programming) subroutine or function in object-oriented languages

• Catalan: mètode (ca) m
• Czech: metoda (cs) f
• Danish: metode c
• Finnish: jäsenfunktio (fi), metodi (fi)
• German: Methode (de) f
• Greek: μέθοδος (el) f (méthodos)
• Hungarian: metódus (hu), tagfüggvény
• Icelandic: aðferð (is) f
• Italian: metodo (it) m
• Japanese: メソッド (ja) (mesoddo)
• Korean: 메서드 (meseodeu), 메소드 (mesodeu)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хэрэглүүр (mn) (xereglüür)

• Polish: metoda (pl) f
• Portuguese: método (pt) m
• Spanish: método (es) m

instruction book

• French: méthode (fr) f

Verb

method (third-person singular simple present methods, present participle methoding, simple past and past participle methoded)

1. (transitive) To apply a method to.
   • 1809, Rachel Russell (baroness.), Letters. To which is prefixed, an intr. vindicating the character of lord ...

     "Says he, there is above ten thousand brisk boys are ready to follow me, whenever I hold up my finger : — Says I, how have you methoded this, that they shall not be crushed, for there will be a great force to oppose you?"

2. (casting, by extension, transitive) To apply particular treatment methods to (a mold).

   The company employs extensive use of 3D modelling combined with solidification simulation to ensure that critical castings are properly methoded.

Translations

to apply a method

• Finnish: käyttää menetelmää

to apply particular treatment methods to a mold

Etymology 2

Abbreviation.

Noun

method (plural methods)

1. (skateboarding, snowboarding) Ellipsis of method air.

Anagrams

• mothed