Proceeding

How to spell proceeding

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce proceeding

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does proceeding mean?

1. nounA formal action or series of steps carried out in a legal case or official meeting, often the recorded account of it.
2. verbThe present participle of proceed: continuing or moving forward with an action.

Proceeding in a sentence

• noun

  The court adjourned the proceeding until the following morning.

• verb

  The train is now proceeding to platform four.

• noun

  Each proceeding was minuted carefully by the clerk.

• verb

  After a short delay, the surgeons are proceeding with the operation.

Where does proceeding come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the verb 'proceed', which English took in the late 1300s from Old French 'proceder', itself from the Latin 'procedere', literally 'to go forward' or 'to advance'. That Latin verb joins 'pro', meaning 'forward', with 'cedere', meaning 'to go' or 'to move', the same root that gives English 'recede', 'concede', and 'precede'. The noun use, especially in the plural for the formal record of a meeting or the steps of a lawsuit, grew up alongside the verb and was established by the 1400s. A persistent spelling trap lives in that 'cedere' root: a small handful of English words keep the doubled-e '-ceed' spelling (proceed, exceed, succeed) while most relatives use '-cede', so writers must remember that 'proceeding' belongs to the '-ceed' family. The single 'c' followed by the doubled 'e' and the silent shape of the ending are what catch fluent adults out.

How the word is built

• pro- (forward)
• -ceed (go, from Latin cedere)
• -ing (noun/verb suffix)