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Webster 1913 Edition

Conduct

Con′duct

(kŏn′dŭkt)
,
Noun.
[LL.
conductus
defense, escort, fr. L.
conductus
, p. p. of
conducere
. See
Conduce
, and cf.
Conduit
.]
1.
The act or method of conducting; guidance; management.
Christianity has humanized the
conduct
of war.
Paley.
The
conduct
of the state, the administration of its affairs.
Ld. Brougham.
2.
Skillful guidance or management; generalship.
Conduct
of armies is a prince’s art.
Waller.
Attacked the Spaniards . . . with great impetuosity, but with so little
conduct
, that his forces were totally routed.
Robertson.
3.
Convoy; escort; guard; guide.
[Archaic]
I will be your
conduct
.
B. Jonson.
In my
conduct
shall your ladies come.
Shakespeare
4.
That which carries or conveys anything; a channel; a conduit; an instrument.
[Obs.]
Although thou hast been
conduct
of my shame.
Shakespeare
5.
The manner of guiding or carrying one's self; personal deportment; mode of action; behavior.
All these difficulties were increased by the
conduct
of Shrewsbury.
Macaulay.
What in the
conduct
of our life appears
So well designed, so luckily begun,
But when we have our wish, we wish undone?
Dryden.
6.
Plot; action; construction; manner of development.
The book of Job, in
conduct
and diction.
Macaulay.
Syn. – Behavior; carriage; deportment; demeanor; bearing; management; guidance. See
Behavior
.

Con-duct′

(kŏn-dŭkt′)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Conducted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Conducting
.]
[See
Conduct
,
Noun.
]
1.
To lead, or guide; to escort; to attend.
I can
conduct
you, lady, to a low
But loyal cottage, where you may be safe.
Milton.
2.
To lead, as a commander; to direct; to manage; to carry on;
as, to
conduct
the affairs of a kingdom
.
Little skilled in the art of
conducting
a siege.
Prescott.
3.
To behave; – with the reflexive;
as, he
conducted
himself well
.
4.
(Physics)
To serve as a medium for conveying; to transmit, as heat, light, electricity, etc.
5.
(Mus.)
To direct, as the leader in the performance of a musical composition.

Con-duct′

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To act as a conductor (as of heat, electricity, etc.); to carry.
2.
To conduct one's self; to behave.
[U. S.]

Webster 1828 Edition

Conduct

CONDUCT

,
Noun.
[L., to lead. See Duke.]
1.
Literally, the act of leading; guidance; command. So Waller has used it.
Conduct of armies is a princes art.
2.
The act of convoying, or guarding; guidance or brining along under protection.
3.
Guard on the way; convoy; escort.
[These senses are now unusual, though not improper.]
4.
In a general sense, personal behavior; course of actions; deportment; applicable equally to a good or a bad course of actions; as laudable conduct; detestable conduct. The word seems originally to have been followed with life, actions, affairs, or other term; as the conduct of life; the conduct of actions; that is, the leading along of life or actions.
Young men in the conduct and manage of actions embrace more than they can hold.
What in the conduct of our life appears.
But by custom, conduct alone is now used to express the idea of behavior or course of life and manners.
5.
Exact behavior; regular life. [Unusual.]
6.
Management; mode of carrying on.
Christianity has humanized the conduct of war.
7.
The title of two clergymen appointed to read prayers at Eton College in England.

CONDUCT

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To lead; to bring along; to guide; to accompany and show the way.
And Judah came to Gilgal--to conduct the king over Jordan. 2 Samuel 19.
2.
To lead; to direct or point out the way.
The precepts of Christ will conduct us to happiness.
3.
To lead; to usher in; to introduce; to attend in civility.
Pray receive them nobly, and conduct them into our presence.
4.
To give a direction to; to manage; applied to things; as, the farmer conducts his affairs with prudence.
5.
To lead, as a commander; to direct; to govern; to command; as, to conduct an army or a division of troops.
6.
With the reciprocal pronoun, to conduct ones self, is to behave. Hence, by a customary omission of the pronoun, to conduct, in an intransitive sense, is to behave; to direct personal actions. [See the Noun.]
7.
To escort; to accompany and protect on the way.

Definition 2024

conduct

conduct

English

Noun

conduct ‎(countable and uncountable, plural conducts)

  1. The act or method of controlling or directing
    • 1785, William Paley, The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy
      There are other restrictions imposed upon the conduct of war, not by the law of nature primarily, but by the laws of war first, and by the law of nature as seconding and ratifying the laws of war.
    • Ld. Brougham
      the conduct of the state, the administration of its affairs
  2. Skillful guidance or management; generalship.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Edmund Waller
      Conduct of armies is a prince's art.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Robertson
      […] attacked the Spaniards […] with great impetuosity, but with so little conduct, that his forces were totally routed.
  3. The manner of guiding or carrying oneself; personal deportment; mode of action; behavior.
    Good conduct will be rewarded and likewise poor conduct will be punished.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Macaulay
      All these difficulties were increased by the conduct of Shrewsbury.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Dryden
      What in the conduct of our life appears / So well designed, so luckily begun, / But when we have our wish, we wish undone?
  4. (of a literary work) Plot; action; construction; manner of development.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Macaulay
      the book of Job, in conduct and diction
  5. (obsolete) Convoy; escort; guard; guide.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Ben Jonson
      I will be your conduct.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare
      In my conduct shall your ladies come.
  6. That which carries or conveys anything; a channel; a conduit; an instrument.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare
      although thou hast been conduct of my chame

Synonyms

Translations

Verb

conduct ‎(third-person singular simple present conducts, present participle conducting, simple past and past participle conducted)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To lead, or guide; to escort.
    • 1634, John Milton, Comus
      I can conduct you, lady, to a low / But loyal cottage, where you may be safe.
  2. (transitive) To lead, as a commander; to direct; to manage; to carry on.
    to conduct the affairs of a kingdom
  3. (transitive) (reflexively to conduct oneself) To behave.
    He conducted himself well.
  4. (transitive) To serve as a medium for conveying; to transmit, as heat, light, electricity, etc.
    • 2011 September 20, Matt Day and Tatyana Shumsky, “Copper Falls to 2011 Lows”, in Wall Street Journal:
      The metal easily conducts electricity and doesn't rust in water, properties that have made it valuable in uses from household plumbing and electric wiring
  5. (transitive, music) To direct, as the leader in the performance of a musical composition.
    • 2006, Michael R. Waters with Mark Long and William Dickens, Lone Star Stalag: German Prisoners of War at Camp Hearne
      For a while, Walter Pohlmann, a well-known German conductor, conducted the orchestra in Compound 3. Later, Willi Mets, who had conducted the world-renowned Leipzig Symphony Orchestra, conducted the Compound 3 orchestra.
  6. (intransitive) To act as a conductor (as of heat, electricity, etc.); to carry.
  7. (transitive) To carry out (something organized)
    • 2011 September 11, “Fugro, Royal Philips Electronics: Benelux Equity Preview”, in San Fransisco Chronicle:
      The world's largest surveyor of deepwater oil fields won a contract to conduct a survey of the French Gulf of Lion to map sand reserves.

Synonyms

Translations

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: shot · warm · sufficient · #929: conduct · directly · James · Greek

Etymology

From Late Latin conductus ‎(“defense, escort”), from Latin conductus, perfect passive participle of condūcō ‎(“bring together”); see also conduce and conduit.

Pronunciation

  • (noun)
  • (verb) enPR: kəndŭkt', IPA(key): /kənˈdʌkt/
  • Rhymes: -ʌkt

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