process — English Dictionary

process
Pronunciations (10)
  • /ˈpɹəʊ.sɛs/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Received-Pronunciation
  • /ˈpɹɑ.sɛs/
    Pronunciation notes
    • General-American
  • /ˈpɹoʊ.sɛs/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Canada
    • US
    • rare
  • /ˈpɹəʉˌses/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Australia
  • [ˈpɹɐʉˌses]
    Pronunciation notes
    • Australia
  • /ˈpɹɐʉˌses/
    Pronunciation notes
    • New-Zealand
  • /pɹəˈsɛs/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Canada
    • General-American
    • Received-Pronunciation
  • /pɹəˈses/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Australia
    • New-Zealand
  • ˈpɹəʊsɛs
  • pɹəˈsɛs

Noun

  1. A series of events leading to a result or product.

    Examples

    This product of last month's quality standards committee is quite good, even though the process was flawed.

    But they came up against an impressive force in Bayern, who extended their run to 10 wins on the trot, having scored 28 goals in the process and conceding none.

    More examples (2)

    Yet in “Through a Latte, Darkly”, a new study of how Starbucks has largely avoided paying tax in Britain, Edward Kleinbard […] shows that current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate what he calls “stateless income”: […] In Starbucks’s case, the firm has in effect turned the process of making an expensive cup of coffee into intellectual property.

    For each of the schemes discussed, there is the four-stage process of planning, funding, delivery and operations, in which the various parties involved might be the lead, a partner or an influencer.

  2. The set of procedures used in the manufacture of a product, especially in the food and chemical industries.

    Examples
    More examples (2)

    1960, Mack Tyner, Process Engineering Calculations: Material and Energy Balances – Ordinarily a process plant will use a steam boiler to supply its process heat requirements and to drive a steam-turbine generator.

    1987, J. R. Richards, Principles of control system design in Modelling and control of fermentation processes – The words plant or process infer generally any dynamic system, be it primarily mechanical, electrical, or chemical process in nature, and may extend also to include social or economic systems.

  3. A path or succession of states through which a system passes.

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.

  4. Successive physiological responses to keep or restore health.

  5. Documents issued by a court in the course of a lawsuit or action at law, such as a summons, mandate, or writ.

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    But if either at Calling by the Clerk, after the Session Bell, or before the Ordinary by the Roll, an Advocat compears, and craves to be Marked for the Defender, and to see the Process; The Clerk in the first Case, and the Judge in the second, will allow him to see it

  6. An outgrowth of tissue arising above a surface, such as might form part of a joint or the attachment point for a muscle.

  7. An executable task or program.

  8. The centre mark that players aim at in the game of squails.

Verb

  1. To perform a particular process on a thing.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

    Processing the harvested cocoons begins with grading and then boiling them in soapy water to soften the sericin that binds the fibers together.

  2. To retrieve, store, classify, manipulate, transmit etc. (data, signals, etc.), especially using computer techniques.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

    We have processed the data using our proven techniques, and have come to the following conclusions.

    If you process you own digital files, it's as time consuming, or maybe even more time consuming, than it is to process and print your own film.

    More examples (1)

    CBP told CNN it currently processes “nearly 4 million duty-free de minimis shipments a day.”

  3. To think about a piece of information, or a concept, in order to assimilate it, and perhaps accept it in a modified state.

    Usage
    • Figurative
    • Transitive
    Examples

    I didn't know she had a criminal record. That will take me a while to process.

  4. To develop photographic film.

    Usage
    • Transitive
  5. To take legal proceedings against.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    When I saw that he would not let me alone, I processed him for £12. My mother was with his brother John, and he allowed her six guineas for clothes; and if she did not want the money, he would allow it to me in the rent, and I made him pay that when he would not leave me alone.

Verb

  1. To walk in a procession, especially in a liturgical context.

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    Prayers completed and Psalms ending, patriarch, emperor, and their sumptuously clad entourages move past the open, silver-clad wings of the Imperial Door and process into the crowded nave and continue to the sanctuary at the east.

Noun

  1. a particular course of action intended to achieve a result

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    the procedure of obtaining a driver's license

    it was a process of trial and error

  2. (psychology) the performance of some composite cognitive activity; an operation that affects mental contents

    Examples

    the process of thinking

    the cognitive operation of remembering

  3. a writ issued by authority of law; usually compels the defendant's attendance in a civil suit; failure to appear results in a default judgment against the defendant

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
  4. a mental process that you are not directly aware of

    Examples

    the process of denial

  5. a natural prolongation or projection from a part of an organism either animal or plant

    Broader terms
    Examples

    a bony process

  6. a sustained phenomenon or one marked by gradual changes through a series of states

    Broader terms
    Examples

    events now in process

    the process of calcification begins later for boys than for girls

  1. subject to a process or treatment, with the aim of readying for some purpose, improving, or remedying a condition

    Synonyms
    Examples

    process cheese

    process hair

    More examples (3)

    treat the water so it can be drunk

    treat the lawn with chemicals

    treat an oil spill

  2. deal with in a routine way

    Examples

    process a loan

    process the applicants

  3. perform mathematical and logical operations on (data) according to programmed instructions in order to obtain the required information

    Examples

    The results of the elections were still being processed when he gave his acceptance speech

  4. institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against

    Broader terms
    Examples

    He was warned that the district attorney would process him

    She actioned the company for discrimination

  5. shape, form, or improve a material

    Synonyms
    Examples

    work stone into tools

    process iron

    More examples (1)

    work the metal

  6. deliver a warrant or summons to someone

    Broader terms
    Examples

    He was processed by the sheriff

  1. march in a procession

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    They processed into the dining room

Word forms
processesprocessesprocessingprocessedprocessed

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