practice makes progress

proverb

If one practices an activity enough, one will steadily make progress and eventually be able to master it in time.

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Meanings

proverb

alternative practice makes progress, progress makes perfect

  1. If one practices an activity enough, one will steadily make progress and eventually be able to master it in time.

    Although people may not be good at suppressing unwanted thoughts and derailing unbidden ruminations, practice makes progress.

    2010, Susan Fiske, Social Beings: Core Motives in Social Psychology, Wiley, →ISBN, page 171
    2 more examples

    There is a fine balance between asking too many questions and becoming an irritant, asking too few and knowing insufficient. But practice makes progress even if it is not possible to claim perfect.

    1987, Michael C. Jackson, Paul Keys, editor, New Directions in Management Science, Gower Publishing, →ISBN, page 50

    But what I find the most inspiring is "Practice makes progress." Whether your progress is a yard or an inch — distance is distance.

    2023, Sarah-Kate Duran, “Consistency”, in Paso Robles Press

Origin

In analogy with practice makes perfect; this proverb states instead that progress must be made before one can perfect something, eliciting patience.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

practice makes progress. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/practice%20makes%20progress

MLA

“practice makes progress.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/practice%20makes%20progress. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “practice makes progress,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/practice%20makes%20progress.

Source: practice makes progress on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.