procedure
Americannoun
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procedures
plural
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an act or a manner of proceeding in any action or process; conduct.
- Synonyms:
- management
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a particular course or mode of action.
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any given mode of conducting legal, parliamentary, or other business, especially litigation and judicial proceedings.
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Computers.
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the sequence of actions or instructions to be followed in solving a problem or accomplishing a task.
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Also called subprogram. a group of statements that may be used at one or more points in a computer program.
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noun
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a way of acting or progressing in a course of action, esp an established method
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the established mode or form of conducting the business of a legislature, the enforcement of a legal right, etc
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computing another name for subroutine
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of procedure
From the French word procédure, dating back to 1605–15. See proceed, -ure
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.
Vocabulary lists containing procedure
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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The Scientific Method
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He said in his book that was standard procedure for the fledgling company.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Patients can be treated with a procedure or a cancer drug that stops cells from growing.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
Opponents have warned that using this procedure would risk creating a law which disability charities, hospices and others have raised major concerns over.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
The rules of this strategy are unforgiving, and failing to follow the proper procedure could result in an ordinary taxable distribution.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
Bliss gave the president the news, warning him that it would be a painful procedure.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
These "pre-mortem" tissue samples came from consenting patients undergoing heart bypass procedures at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
Verify procedures: Understand exactly what your plan administrator requires to put a beneficiary-designation change in place.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
The exercise in 2027 will "go through measures to call out, to use and equip" procedures to mobilise retired troops at scale should it ever be needed, she added.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
The PCB handles such matters in accordance with its standard procedures.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
When in 1896 Armand Peugeot wanted to create his company, he paid a lawyer to go through all these sacred procedures.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
