procedure

American  

[pruh-see-jer] / prəˈsi dʒər /

noun

• procedures
  plural

1. 

   an act or a manner of proceeding in any action or process; conduct.

   Synonyms:

   management

2. a particular course or mode of action.

   Synonyms:

   plan, method, operation

3. any given mode of conducting legal, parliamentary, or other business, especially litigation and judicial proceedings.

4. Computers.

   1. the sequence of actions or instructions to be followed in solving a problem or accomplishing a task.

   2. Also called subprogram. a group of statements that may be used at one or more points in a computer program.

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procedure British  

/ prəˈsiːdʒə /

noun

1. a way of acting or progressing in a course of action, esp an established method

2. the established mode or form of conducting the business of a legislature, the enforcement of a legal right, etc

3. computing another name for subroutine

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Usage

What does procedure mean? A procedure is a particular way of doing something, especially one that is usually repeated in the same way each time. This is how the word is used in the phrases standard procedure and follow procedure, as in It’s important to follow procedure in the event of an emergency. The word procedure can also refer to a particular course of action, as in The instructions list all the steps of the procedure. This is especially used in professional and technical contexts. In a legal context, the word refers to the specific way that proceedings need to be carried out according to the rules. In a medical context, procedure is used as a synonym for operation, as in I’m having a minor procedure done tomorrow. In computers and programming, a procedure is a series or instructions followed in order to complete some task, often as part of a program. Example: This is not proper procedure! Who’s in charge here?

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• procedural
  adjective
• procedurally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• procedures
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of procedure

From the French word procédure, dating back to 1605–15. See proceed, -ure

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Explanation

A procedure is a tried and true process or method used to accomplish a particular task. Using sharp metal picks, dentists scrape the plaque from their patients’ teeth. While effective, it’s a procedure most people despise. The word procedure is often used in the fields of medicine and law, sometimes in combination with other words, as in "surgical procedure" or "legal procedure." A "Parliamentary procedure" is the set of rules that you follow at a meeting of a club or some other organization (not necessarily a House of Parliament). Procedure is also related to the word procedural, which is sometimes used a term for a genre of television drama in which the plot revolves around a technical procedure, like the solving of a police case.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

procedure procedures

This system will allow doctors to administer repeated doses of the engineered immune cells without requiring a new surgical procedure each time.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 8, 2026

His family took the decision to abide by Issac's wishes as a lifelong Witness not to accept such a procedure.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026

After a discussion, the next play was an illegal procedure penalty on the Parrots.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2026

Mississippi has no automatic recount procedure, although candidates can seek court intervention.

From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026

Visual acuity correctable to 20/20; if there have been surgical procedures to the eye, such as LASIK, a year must have passed since the latest procedure.

From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson

"Coupang Eats will carefully review the final ruling and fully present its position through appropriate legal procedures," it said.

From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2026

During the planned 14-day mission, the crew will practice rendezvous and docking procedures with both companies' lander test vehicles.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 9, 2026

The change suddenly means the vast majority of medical procedures using donated blood are no longer prohibited to followers.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026

This combined outcome included death from any cause, heart attacks, strokes, and procedures to restore blood flow through narrowed or blocked arteries.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2026

The investigation discovered that the basic design of the spacecraft was sound, but there had been mistakes in design and in testing procedures.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

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Related Words

• action
• agenda
• conduct
• form
• measure
• method
• move
• operation
• plan
• policy
• practice
• proceeding
• program
• scheme
• step
• strategy
• transaction

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