process

American  

[pros-es, proh-ses] / ˈprɒs ɛs, ˈproʊ sɛs /

noun

processes plural

1. a systematic series of actions directed to some end.

   to devise a process for homogenizing milk.

   Synonyms:

   operation

2. a continuous action, operation, or series of changes taking place in a definite manner.

   the process of decay.

3. Law.

   1. the summons, mandate, or writ by which a defendant or thing is brought before court for litigation.

   2. the whole course of the proceedings in an action at law.

4. Photography. photomechanical or photoengraving methods collectively.

5. Biology, Anatomy. a natural outgrowth, projection, or appendage.

   a process of a bone.

6. the action of going forward or on.

7. the condition of being carried on.

8. course or lapse, as of time.

9. conk.

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verb (used with object)

processes, present (3rd person singular) processed, past participle, past processing present participle

1. to treat or prepare by some particular series of actions, as in manufacturing.

2. 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.

3. to mentally or emotionally deal with and make sense of.

   Cognitive therapy can be helpful in processing traumatic events and experiences.

   The disease affects the brain's ability to process bodily sensations.

4. 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.

5. to convert (an agricultural commodity) into marketable form by a special series of steps, as pasteurization.

6. to institute a legal process against; prosecute.

7. to serve a process or summons on.

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

9. conk.

verb (used without object)

processes, present (3rd person singular) processed, past participle, past processing present participle

1. to deal with something mentally or emotionally and make sense of it.

   That movie completely blew me away—I’m still processing a week later.

2. to undergo administrative activities involved in hiring or firing personnel, organizing and reviewing information to make a decision, etc..

   The recruits are expected to process in four days.

   Your application for admission is still processing, but you should hear from us shortly.

adjective

1. prepared or modified by an artificial process or procedure.

   process cheese.

2. noting, pertaining to, or involving photomechanical or photoengraving methods.

   a process print.

3. Informal. of or relating to hair that has been conked, or chemically straightened.

4. Movies. created by or used in process cinematography.

   a moving background on a process screen.

process ¹ British  

/ ˈprəʊsɛs /

noun

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. 1. a summons, writ, etc, commanding a person to appear in court

   2. 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

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verb

1. to subject to a routine procedure; handle

2. to treat or prepare by a special method, esp to treat (food) in order to preserve it

   to process cheese

3. 1. to institute legal proceedings against

   2. to serve a process on

4. photog

   1. to develop, rinse, fix, wash, and dry (exposed film, etc)

   2. to produce final prints or slides from (undeveloped film)

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

6. to prepare (food) using a food processor

process ² British  

/ prəˈsɛs /

verb

1. (intr) to proceed in or as if in a procession

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Pronunciation

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 : or . Recent years have seen the increasing popularity of an pronunciation for processes, perhaps by mistaken analogy with such plurals as theses and hypotheses, with which it has no connection. Although this newer pronunciation is increasingly common, it is regarded by some educated speakers as an affectation.

Usage

What are other ways to say process? A process is a systematic series of actions directed to some end. When should you use this noun over procedure or proceeding? Find out on Thesaurus.com.

Synonym Usage

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.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• transprocess
  noun
• preprocess
  verb
• overprocess
  verb (used with object)
• reprocess
  verb (used with object)
• processual
  adjective
• semiprocessed
  adjective
• unprocessed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• processes
  plural

Participles

• processing
  present
• processed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• process
  simple
• processes
  simple
• have processed
  perfect
• has processed
  perfect
• am processing
  progressive
• are processing
  progressive
• is processing
  progressive
• have been processing
  perfect progressive
• has been processing
  perfect progressive

Past

• processed
  simple
• had processed
  perfect
• was processing
  progressive
• were processing
  progressive
• had been processing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will process
  simple
• will have processed
  perfect
• will be processing
  progressive
• will have been processing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of process

First recorded in 1275–1325; from Middle English proces (noun), from Old French, from Latin prōcessus “a going forward,” equivalent to prō- pro- ¹ + ced-, variant stem of cēdere “to yield” + -tus suffix of verbal action, with dt > ss ; see cede, cession

Explanation

A process is a procedure, something you do in order to achieve a certain result. Some people try to carefully follow all the steps in a process. Other people just wing it. You hear this word being used a lot to describe work. "I am in the process of drafting a memo, even if I kill myself with late nights in the process." The related word procession describes people or vehicles moving forward in an orderly way — a wedding opens with the bridal procession.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

process processes processed processing

Jingye has said it had begun the process of seeking compensation for nationalisation, having previously claimed the business was losing £700,000 a day.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

“For really everyone other than AI providers, the process is broken.”

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026

During post-training—when the model is taught how to behave—Thinking Machines used a combination of distillation, which relies on other AI models, and its own reinforcement learning process.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

Researchers say it is the first known case in archaeological history in which a Greek literary text was intentionally incorporated into the mummification process.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026

Jonah watched a girl repeat the same process.

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

"Many of the biological processes we study in HIV are also central to aging in the general population," said Corley.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026

“Our processes may be perceived by some as slow, but they will certainly be deliberative.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

Together, those processes can make the water heavy enough to sink into the deep ocean, helping to drive the AMOC's overturning flow.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

The startup uses a legacy 14-nanometer manufacturing, but claims the DF1000 can match some mainstream Western chips built on far more advanced 4-nanometer processes in certain inference workloads.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

Heqet continued to describe every process he was taught at the goldhouse, but the more interesting the processes, the more complicated they were, and the harder they were to describe.

From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Some trading accounts provide temporary buying power through instant deposits so the account holder can make trades while the bank transfer is still being processed.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026

He added that Aldi's heavy reliance on packaged, private-label processed foods was a detractor compared to the natural organic options he prefers.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

In practice, corn chips are generally considered to be UPFs regardless of how much they are actually processed.

From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2026

“We presume that beneficence, compassion, empathy, sympathy or kindness will be processed by this other culture in ways similar or identical to ours.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

Almost all of the three hundred chickens we’d processed Wednesday morning would be eaten within a few dozen miles of the farm.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

As the metal is used to power graphics processing units, it plays an essential role in data centers.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026

IBM has also invested heavily in infrastructure for quantum computing, widely regarded as the next phase of advanced processing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

"Our experiments didn't begin with a specific hypothesis but revealed a fundamental processing mechanism in the visual system," says Lee.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026

That assumes successful commissioning and ramp-up at the Edna May processing plant, and the Lake Johnston plant, which has a capacity of 3.2 million tons of ore.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

Dynamic auditory processing, musical experience and language development.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

Related Words

• action
• case
• course
• development
• growth
• means
• measure
• mechanism
• movement
• operation
• practice
• procedure
• proceeding
• progress
• rule
• step
• system
• technique
• trial
• way