ad hoc
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Learned borrowing from New Latin ad hoc (“to this, for this”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌæd ˈhɒk/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˌæd ˈhɑk/, /ˌæd ˈhɔk/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɒk
Adjective
ad hoc (comparative more ad hoc, superlative most ad hoc)
- For a particular purpose.
- Created on the spur of the moment; impromptu.
- 2020 February 25, Christopher de Bellaigue, “The end of farming?”, in The Guardian:
- Over the past 20 years or so, from South America to the Danube basin, ad hoc coalitions of politicians, activists and conscience-stricken billionaires (whose core activities, such as Povlsen’s clothing business, are often less than environmentally friendly), have rewilded millions of acres of mostly failed agricultural and grazing land.
- (sciences, of a hypothesis) Postulated solely to save a theory from being falsified, without making any new predictions.
- 2012 December 6, J. Agassi, Science in Flux, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 197:
- Contrary to the traditional condoning of ad hoc hypotheses, and in line with Popper's and Grünbaum's approaches, we see, once an ad hoc hypothesis is introduced we are unhappy about it and try to eliminate it.
- (networking) Independent of previously instated network structure, like routers or access points.
- 2007 April 23, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Wireless Ad hoc and Sensor Networks: Protocols, Performance, and Control, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 233:
- An ad hoc network is a group of wireless mobile nodes dynamically forming a temporary network without any fixed infrastructure or centralized administration. The applications for ad hoc networks have grown tremendously with the increase in the use of wireless sensor networks.
Derived terms
Translations
for this particular purpose
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special — see special
impromptu — see impromptu
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Adverb
ad hoc (comparative more ad hoc, superlative most ad hoc)
- On the spur of the moment.
- For a particular purpose.
Synonyms
Translations
on the spur of the moment
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for a particular purpose
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Further reading
- “ad hoc”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- ad hoc, ad-hoc at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
Anagrams
Danish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin ad hoc.
Adverb
References
- “ad hoc” in Den Danske Ordbog
Finnish
Etymology
Adjective
ad hoc (not comparable) (rare)
- ad hoc (for a particular purpose)
Usage notes
The Finnish term mainly used instead of "ad hoc committee" is työryhmä
Declension
Used only in uninflected form to modify a noun, as in ad hoc -komitea ("ad hoc committee").
Latin
Pronunciation
Phrase
- to this end, for this, to this point, to this.
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From the Latin phrase ad hoc (“for this”).
Adjective
Adverb
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From the Latin phrase ad hoc (“for this”).
Adjective
Adverb
Polish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from New Latin ad hoc.
Pronunciation
Adverb
ad hoc (not comparable)
- ad hoc (on the spur of the moment)
Further reading
- ad hoc in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- ad hoc in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin ad hoc.
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɔki
Adjective
ad hoc (invariable)
- ad hoc (created for a particular purpose)
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin ad hoc.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌad ˈok/
Audio (El Salvador): (file) - Syllabification: ad hoc
Adverb
ad hoc
- ad hoc (for this particular purpose)
Usage notes
According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
Further reading
- “ad hoc”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10