implementation
noun
Implementation — the practical work of turning a plan into reality
Definition
The act of implementing (providing a practical means for accomplishing something); carrying into effect
In depth
Implementation is the act of putting a plan, system, or idea into actual practice, providing the concrete, practical means by which something conceived in theory finally takes effect in the world. The word marks the often unglamorous gap between deciding what should happen and the sustained labor of making it happen.
Origin
The word descends from Latin implere, to fill up or fulfill, by way of the noun implementum, meaning equipment or that which fills a need. That image of filling lingers in the modern sense: to implement a plan is, etymologically, to fill out its intention with the tools and action needed to complete it.
Usage examples
"The policy's implementation proved far more difficult than its drafters had ever anticipated."
"She had handled the design beautifully; the slow, grinding work of implementation fell to someone else entirely."
"Years passed between the original proposal and its eventual implementation, by which point half its original purpose had faded."
How to use it
Implementation is standard, somewhat formal vocabulary in business, policy, and technical writing, useful wherever a writer wants to distinguish the planning or design phase of a project from the harder, more practical work of carrying it out.
Related concepts
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