process

to handle (papers, records, etc.) by systematically organizing them, recording or making notations on them, following up with appropriate action, or the like: to process mail.

12.

to require (someone) to answer questionnaires, perform various tasks, and sometimes to undergo physical and aptitude classification examinations before the beginning or termination of a period of service: The army processes all personnel entering or leaving the service.

13.

to convert (an agricultural commodity) into marketable form by a special process, as pasteurization.

14.

to institute a legal process against.

15.

to serve a process or summons on.

16.

Computers. to carry out operations on (data or programs).

17.

conk⁴ ( def 3 ).

00:10

Process is always a great word to know.

So is optical sound. Does it mean:

sound recorded on and subsequently played back from an optical or photographic soundtrack, as opposed to a magnetic soundtrack

the steps necessary to prepare a film for production, as casting, choosing locations, and designing sets and costumes

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used without object)

18.

to undergo the activities involved in processing personnel: The recruits expected to process in four days.

adjective

19.

prepared or modified by an artificial process: process cheese.

20.

noting, pertaining to, or involving photomechanical or photoengraving methods: a process print.

21.

Informal. of or pertaining to hair that has been conked.

22.

Movies. created by or used in process cinematography: a moving background on a process screen.

Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English proces (noun) (< Old French) < Latin prōcessus a going forward, equivalent to prō- pro-¹ + ced-, variant stem of cēdere to yield (see cede) + -tus suffix of v. action; see cession

Related forms

pro·ces·su·al

[pro-sesh-oo-uh

l or, esp. British, proh-] , adjective

o·ver·proc·ess, verb (used with object)

pre·proc·ess, verb

re·proc·ess, verb (used with object)

sem·i·proc·essed, adjective

trans·proc·ess, noun

un·proc·essed, adjective

Synonyms
1. operation. Process, procedure, proceeding apply to something that goes on or takes place. A process is a series of progressive and interdependent steps by which an end is attained: a chemical process. Procedure usually implies a formal or set order of doing a thing, a method of conducting affairs: parliamentary procedure. Proceeding (usually pl.) applies to what goes on or takes place on a given occasion or to the records of the occasion: Proceedings of the Royal Academy of Sciences.

Pronunciation note
The word process, an early 14th century French borrowing, has a regularly formed plural that adds -es to the singular. This plural, as in similar words like recesses and successes, has traditionally been pronounced

[-iz]

[pros-es-iz, proh-ses-] or

[pros-uh-siz, proh-suh-]. Recent years have seen the increasing popularity of an

[-eez] pronunciation for processes, perhaps by mistaken analogy with such plurals as theses and hypotheses, with which it has no connection. This newer pronunciation is common among younger educated speakers.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To process

Collins

World English Dictionary

process¹ (ˈprəʊsɛs)

—n
1.	a series of actions that produce a change or development: the process of digestion
2.	a method of doing or producing something
3.	a forward movement
4.	the course of time
5.	a. a summons, writ, etc, commanding a person to appear in court
	b. the whole proceedings in an action at law
6.	a natural outgrowth or projection of a part, organ, or organism
7.	a distinct subtask of a computer system which can be regarded as proceeding in parallel with other subtasks of the system
8.	(modifier) relating to the general preparation of a printing forme or plate by the use, at some stage, of photography
9.	(modifier) denoting a film, film scene, shot, etc, made by techniques that produce unusual optical effects

—vb
10.	to subject to a routine procedure; handle
11.	to treat or prepare by a special method, esp to treat (food) in order to preserve it: to process cheese
12.	a. to institute legal proceedings against
	b. to serve a process on
13.	photog
	a. to develop, rinse, fix, wash, and dry (exposed film, etc)
	b. to produce final prints or slides from (undeveloped film)
14.	computing to perform mathematical and logical operations on (data) according to programmed instructions in order to obtain the required information
15.	to prepare (food) using a food processor

[C14: from Old French procès, from Latin prōcessus an advancing, from prōcēdere to proceed]

process² (prəˈsɛs)

—vb
	(intr) to proceed in or as if in a procession

[C19: back formation from procession]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

process

early 14c., "fact of being carried on" (e.g. in process), from O.Fr. proces "journey" (13c.), from L. processus "process, advance, progress," from pp. stem of procedere "go forward" (see proceed). Meaning "course or method of action" is from mid-14c.; sense of "continuous

series of actions meant to accomplish some result" (the main modern sense) is from 1620s. Legal sense of "course of action of a suit at law" is attested from early 14c. Verb meaning "prepare by special process" first recorded 1884; processor is 1909; data processor is 1958; word processor is c.1974; food processor is 1977.

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

process proc·ess (prŏs'ěs', prō'sěs')
n. pl. proc·ess·es (prŏs'ěs'ĭz, prō'sěs'-, prŏs'ĭ-sēz', prō'sĭ-)

A series of actions, changes, or functions bringing about a result.
Advance or progress, as of a disease.
An outgrowth of tissue; a projecting part, as of a bone.

proc'ess adj.
proc'ess v.

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

process definition

1. The sequence of states of an executing program. A process consists of the program code (which may be shared with other processes which are executing the same program), private data, and the state of the processor, particularly the values in its registers. It may have other associated resources such as a process identifier, open files, CPU time limits, shared memory, child processes, and signal handlers.
One process may, on some platforms, consist of many threads. A multitasking operating system can run multiple processes concurrently or in parallel, and allows a process to spawn "child" processes.
(2001-06-16)
2. The sequence of activities, people, and systems involved in carrying out some business or achieving some desired result. E.g. software development process, project management process, configuration management process.
(2001-06-16)

Example sentences

We want to know if these abnormalities are the result of the disease process or

if they are abnormalities that cause the disease.

The idea was to solicit articles from scholars, subject the articles to a

seven-step review process, and post them free online.

As you can see, the process is not easily predictable, and it is subject to the

influence of the personalities of those involved.

But the process of building the new garden turned into an adventure with a few

unforeseen twists.

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interpolation rounding wet plate process additive process agglutination assimilation

Matching Quote

"Desire is creation, is the magical element in that process. If there were an instrument by which to measure desire, one could foretell achievement."

-Willa Cather