Process
nounA connected series of actions or steps taken to achieve a particular result.
How to spell process
7 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce process
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does process mean?
- nounA connected series of actions or steps taken to achieve a particular result.
- verbTo handle, treat, or deal with something through a series of steps, especially data or materials.
Process in a sentence
-
noun
The hiring process took almost three months from start to finish.
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verb
The bank will process your application within five working days.
-
noun
Renewing a passport is a slow and frustrating process.
-
verb
The software can process thousands of records every minute.
Where does process come from?
Language of origin: Latin
This word comes from the Latin processus, meaning 'a going forward' or 'an advance', the past-participle noun of procedere, built from pro 'forward' and cedere 'to go, to move'. The same cedere root, in its 'go' sense, sits inside a whole family of English words such as proceed, recede, succeed and concede, which is a handy reminder that the spelling carries the double meaning of forward motion. English took the word in through Old French proces during the 1300s, where it first meant the course or progress of a legal action over time. From that legal 'course of events' sense it broadened to cover any connected series of steps leading to a result, and later, in industry and computing, the methodical handling or treatment of material or data. The single c and double s in the middle trip people up because the ear hears a single sibilant; remembering the cess root, as in success and access, fixes the ending.
How the word is built
- pro- (forward)
- cess (from Latin cedere/cessus: to go, to move); literally 'a going forward'
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