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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stanislavsky System

Method \Meth"od\, n. [F. m['e]thode, L. methodus, fr. Gr. meqodos method, investigation following after; meta` after + "odo`s way.]

  1. An orderly procedure or process; regular manner of doing anything; hence, manner; way; mode; as, a method of teaching languages; a method of improving the mind.
    --Addison.

  2. Orderly arrangement, elucidation, development, or classification; clear and lucid exhibition; systematic arrangement peculiar to an individual.

    Though this be madness, yet there's method in it.
    --Shak.

    All method is a rational progress, a progress toward an end.
    --Sir W. Hamilton.

  3. (Nat. Hist.) Classification; a mode or system of classifying natural objects according to certain common characteristics; as, the method of Theophrastus; the method of Ray; the Linn[ae]an method.

  4. A technique used in acting in which the actor tries to identify with the individual personality of the specific character being portrayed, so as to provide a realistic rendering of the character's role. Also called the Method, method acting, the Stanislavsky Method or Stanislavsky System.

    Syn: Order; system; rule; regularity; way; manner; mode; course; process; means.

    Usage: Method, Mode, Manner. Method implies arrangement; mode, mere action or existence. Method is a way of reaching a given end by a series of acts which tend to secure it; mode relates to a single action, or to the form which a series of acts, viewed as a whole, exhibits. Manner is literally the handling of a thing, and has a wider sense, embracing both method and mode. An instructor may adopt a good method of teaching to write; the scholar may acquire a bad mode of holding his pen; the manner in which he is corrected will greatly affect his success or failure.