Noun

Singular usage

Plural usages

usage (plural usages)

1. The manner or the amount of using; use
2. Habit or accepted practice
3. (lexicography) The ways and contexts in which spoken and written words are used, determined by a lexicographer's intuitition or from corpus analysis.
   1. Correct or proper use of language, proclaimed by some authority.
   2. Geographic, social, or temporal restrictions on the use of words.

Derived terms

• usage dictionary
• usage guide
• usage label
• usage lexicography
• usage note
• usage panel

A style guide or style manual is a set of standards for design and writing of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication or organization. Style guides are prevalent for general and specialized use, for the general reading and writing audience, and for students and scholars of the various academic disciplines, medicine, journalism, the law, government, business, and industry. Some style guides focus on graphic design, covering such topics as typography and white space. Web site style guides focus on a publication's visual and technical aspects, prose style, best usage, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and fairness. The strict implementation of style guide regulations provides uniformity in style and formatting of a document.

Many style guides are revised periodically to accommodate changes in conventions and usage. For example, the stylebook of the Associated Press is updated annually.