method

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Systematic procedure

Nouns — method, way, manner, wise; gait, form, mode, means, style, fashion, design, tone, behavior, guise; modus operandi, modus vivendi, procedure, process, practice, regimen, system, technique, methodology, strategy, tactics, routine, line of conduct, lifestyle; system, plan, scheme, formula, rule. See agency, order, use.

Verbs — methodize, systematize, arrange, regularize, organize, formulate.

Adjectives — methodical, systematic, schematic, stylistic, modal, procedural, planned, arranged, orderly, routine.

Adverbs — how; in what way, manner, or mode; so, thus, in this way, after this fashion; one way or another, anyhow, by any means, somehow or other, however; by way of, via, on the high road to.

Phrases — where there's a will there's a way.

Quotations — Though this be madness, yet there is method in it (Shakespeare), There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method (Herman Melville), Method goes far to prevent trouble in business (William Penn), There's a way to do it better — find it (Thomas Edison).

Antonyms, see disorder.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Order]

Syn. classification, organization, arrangement; see order 3 , system 1 .

2. [A procedure]

Syn. mode, style, standard procedure, fashion, way, means, program, tenor, process, proceeding, adjustment, disposition, disposal, practice, routine, technic, technique, approach, method of attack, mode of operation, manner of working, ways and means, habit, custom, modus operandi (Latin), manner, formula, process, course, rule; see also system 2 .

3. [Plan]

Syn. design, outline, scheme; see opinion 1 , plan 2 , purpose 1 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

1. technique way, system, mode, style, formula, process, manner, means, procedure, program, course.

2. design order, arrangement, plan, scheme, regularity.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. The approach used to do something: fashion, manner, mode, modus operandi, style, system, way, wise2. See MEANS. 2. Systematic arrangement and design: order, orderliness, organization, pattern, plan, system, systemati-zation, systemization. See ORDER.