Proceedings

How to spell proceedings

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce proceedings

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does proceedings mean?

1. nounThe series of events, activities, or business carried out at a meeting, ceremony, or occasion.
2. nounThe formal steps and actions taken in a court case or legal dispute.

Proceedings in a sentence

• The secretary recorded the proceedings of the annual general meeting.

• The company faced lengthy court proceedings over the unpaid invoices.

• Heavy rain forced the organisers to move the proceedings indoors.

• Her lawyer advised her to settle before the proceedings began.

Where does proceedings come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb procedere, meaning 'to go forward' or 'to advance', formed from pro- 'forward' and cedere 'to go, to move'. It entered English through Old French proceder in the late 1300s, originally describing the act of going onward or carrying something through. The noun 'proceeding' developed from the gerund of the English verb 'proceed', and by the 1500s its plural 'proceedings' had settled into two everyday uses: the formal steps taken in a lawsuit, and the run of events or activities at a meeting or gathering. The classic spelling trap lives in the middle: 'proceed' keeps the double 'e' of '-ceed', unlike its cousins 'precede' and 'recede', even though all three share the same cedere root. Only three English verbs take '-ceed' (proceed, exceed, succeed), which is exactly why writers second-guess this one.

How the word is built

• pro- (forward)
• -ceed (from Latin cedere: to go)
• -ing (noun-forming suffix)
• -s (plural)