PROCESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does process mean? 

• PROCESS (noun)
  The noun PROCESS has 6 senses:

1. a particular course of action intended to achieve a result

2. (psychology) the performance of some composite cognitive activity; an operation that affects mental contents

3. a writ issued by authority of law; usually compels the defendant's attendance in a civil suit; failure to appear results in a default judgment against the defendant

4. a mental process that you are not directly aware of

5. a natural prolongation or projection from a part of an organism either animal or plant

6. a sustained phenomenon or one marked by gradual changes through a series of states

  Familiarity information: PROCESS used as a noun is common.

• PROCESS (verb)
  The verb PROCESS has 7 senses:

1. subject to a process or treatment, with the aim of readying for some purpose, improving, or remedying a condition

2. deal with in a routine way

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

4. institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against

5. march in a procession

6. shape, form, or improve a material

7. deliver a warrant or summons to someone

  Familiarity information: PROCESS used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROCESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A particular course of action intended to achieve a result

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

procedure; process

Context example:

it was a process of trial and error

Hypernyms ("process" is a kind of...):

activity (any specific behavior)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "process"):

Bertillon system (a system or procedure for identifying persons)

fingerprinting (the procedure of taking inked impressions of a person's fingerprints for the purpose of identification)

genetic fingerprinting; genetic profiling (the procedure of analyzing the DNA in samples of a person's body tissue or body fluid for the purpose of identification)

diagnostic procedure; diagnostic technique (a procedure followed in making a medical diagnosis)

emergency procedure ((medicine) a procedure adopted to meet an emergency (especially a medical emergency))

experimental procedure (the specific techniques used in conducting a particular experiment)

calculation; computation; computing (the procedure of calculating; determining something by mathematical or logical methods)

medical procedure (a procedure employed by medical or dental practitioners)

chromosome mapping; mapping ((genetics) the process of locating genes on a chromosome)

operating procedure (a procedure for operating something or for dealing with a given situation)

stiffening (the act of becoming stiff)

indirection (indirect procedure or action)

rigamarole; rigmarole (a long and complicated and confusing procedure)

modus operandi; routine (an unvarying or habitual method or procedure)

condition; experimental condition (the procedure that is varied in order to estimate a variable's effect by comparison with a control condition)

formula; rule ((mathematics) a standard procedure for solving a class of mathematical problems)

Derivation:

process (shape, form, or improve a material)

process (deal with in a routine way)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(psychology) the performance of some composite cognitive activity; an operation that affects mental contents

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

cognitive operation; cognitive process; mental process; operation; process

Context example:

the cognitive operation of remembering

Hypernyms ("process" is a kind of...):

cognition; knowledge; noesis (the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning)

Domain category:

psychological science; psychology (the science of mental life)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "process"):

basic cognitive process (cognitive processes involved in obtaining and storing knowledge)

higher cognitive process (cognitive processes that presuppose the availability of knowledge and put it to use)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A writ issued by authority of law; usually compels the defendant's attendance in a civil suit; failure to appear results in a default judgment against the defendant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

process; summons

Hypernyms ("process" is a kind of...):

judicial writ; writ ((law) a legal document issued by a court or judicial officer)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "process"):

citation (a summons that commands the appearance of a party at a proceeding)

monition; process of monition (a summons issued after the filing of a libel or claim directing all parties concerned to show cause why the judgment asked for should not be granted)

ticket (a summons issued to an offender (especially to someone who violates a traffic regulation))

Derivation:

process (deliver a warrant or summons to someone)

process (institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A mental process that you are not directly aware of

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

process; unconscious process

Context example:

the process of denial

Hypernyms ("process" is a kind of...):

cognition; knowledge; noesis (the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "process"):

sleep talking; somniloquism; somniloquy (uttering speech while asleep)

condensation ((psychoanalysis) an unconscious process whereby two ideas or images combine into a single symbol; especially in dreams)

defence; defence mechanism; defence reaction; defense; defense mechanism; defense reaction ((psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A natural prolongation or projection from a part of an organism either animal or plant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

appendage; outgrowth; process

Context example:

a bony process

Hypernyms ("process" is a kind of...):

body part (any part of an organism such as an organ or extremity)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "process"):

horn (one of the bony outgrowths on the heads of certain ungulates)

horn (any hard protuberance from the head of an organism that is similar to or suggestive of a horn)

crest (a showy growth of e.g. feathers or skin on the head of a bird or other animal)

pseudopod; pseudopodium (temporary outgrowth used by some microorganisms as an organ of feeding or locomotion)

flagellum (a lash-like appendage used for locomotion (e.g., in sperm cells and some bacteria and protozoa))

hair (a filamentous projection or process on an organism)

cirrus (a slender flexible animal appendage as on barnacles or crinoids or many insects; often tactile)

spine (a sharp rigid animal process or appendage; as a porcupine quill or a ridge on a bone or a ray of a fish fin)

aculea (small spiny outgrowth on the wings of certain insects)

style (a slender bristlelike or tubular process)

villus (a minute hairlike projection on mucous membrane)

tail (the posterior part of the body of a vertebrate especially when elongated and extending beyond the trunk or main part of the body)

fetlock (projection behind and above a horse's hoof)

tentacle (any of various elongated tactile or prehensile flexible organs that occur on the head or near the mouth in many animals; used for feeling or grasping or locomotion)

arista (bristlelike process near the tip of the antenna of certain flies)

acromial process; acromion (the outermost point of the spine of the shoulder blade)

ala (a flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism)

alveolar arch (the part of the upper or lower jawbones in which the teeth are set)

alveolar process; alveolar ridge; gum ridge (a ridge that forms the borders of the upper and lower jaws and contains the sockets of the teeth)

acrosome (a process at the anterior end of a sperm cell that produces enzymes to facilitate penetration of the egg)

caruncle; caruncula (an outgrowth on a plant or animal such as a fowl's wattle or a protuberance near the hilum of certain seeds)

condyle (a round bump on a bone where it forms a joint with another bone)

coronoid process; processus coronoideus (a sharp triangular process projecting from a bone)

epicondyle (a projection on a bone above a condyle serving for the attachment of muscles and ligaments)

fimbria (thin projections forming a fringe (especially around the ovarian end of the Fallopian tube))

apophysis ((anatomy) a natural outgrowth or projection on an organ or body part such as the process of a vertebra)

spicule; spiculum (small pointed structure serving as a skeletal element in various marine and freshwater invertebrates e.g. sponges and corals)

osteophyte (small abnormal bony outgrowth)

papilla (a small projection of tissue at the base of a hair or tooth or feather)

papilla (a small nipple-shaped protuberance concerned with taste, touch, or smell)

appendix; cecal appendage; vermiform appendix; vermiform process (a vestigial process that extends from the lower end of the cecum and that resembles a small pouch)

mastoid; mastoid bone; mastoid process; mastoidal (process of the temporal bone behind the ear at the base of the skull)

styloid process (extends from the base of the temporal bone)

pterygoid process (two bony processes descending from the body of the sphenoid bone)

eminence; tubercle; tuberosity (a protuberance on a bone especially for attachment of a muscle or ligament)

zygomatic process (a slender process of the temporal bone that strengthens the zygomatic arch)

trochanter (one of the bony prominences developed near the upper extremity of the femur to which muscles are attached)

transverse process (one of two processes that extend from each vertebra and provide the point of articulation for the ribs)

odontoid process (a toothlike process at the back of 2nd vertebra of the neck)

metaphysis (the growing part of a long bone between the diaphysis and the epiphysis)

olecranon; olecranon process (process of the ulna that forms the outer bump of the elbow and fits into the fossa of the humerus when the arm is extended)

ridge (any long raised border or margin of a bone or tooth or membrane)

excrescence ((pathology) an abnormal outgrowth or enlargement of some part of the body)

papilla ((botany) a tiny outgrowth on the surface of a petal or leaf)

enation; plant process (a natural projection or outgrowth from a plant body or organ)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A sustained phenomenon or one marked by gradual changes through a series of states

Classified under:

Nouns with no superordinates

Synonyms:

physical process; process

Context example:

the process of calcification begins later for boys than for girls

Hypernyms ("process" is a kind of...):

physical entity (an entity that has physical existence)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "process"):

phenomenon (any state or process known through the senses rather than by intuition or reasoning)

chelation ((medicine) the process of removing a heavy metal from the bloodstream by means of a chelate as in treating lead or mercury poisoning)

dealignment (a process whereby voters are moved toward nonpartisanship thus weakening the structure of political parties)

decrease; decrement (a process of becoming smaller or shorter)

degeneration; devolution (the process of declining from a higher to a lower level of effective power or vitality or essential quality)

development; evolution (a process in which something passes by degrees to a different stage (especially a more advanced or mature stage))

economic process (any process affecting the production and development and management of material wealth, or, according to Carmine Gorga, Ph.D., author of the book 'The Economic Process', the process of production of real wealth, distribution of ownership rights over real and monetary wealth, and consumption or expenditure of monetary wealth to purchase real wealth)

encapsulation (the process of enclosing (as in a capsule))

execution; instruction execution ((computer science) the process of carrying out an instruction by a computer)

human process (a process in which human beings are involved)

growth; increase; increment (a process of becoming larger or longer or more numerous or more important)

industrial process (a systematic series of mechanical or chemical operations that produce or manufacture something)

irreversible process (any process that is not reversible)

iteration; looping ((computer science) executing the same set of instructions a given number of times or until a specified result is obtained)

iteration; loop ((computer science) a single execution of a set of instructions that are to be repeated)

action; activity; natural action; natural process (a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings))

functioning; operation; performance (process or manner of functioning or operating)

biological process; organic process (a process occurring in living organisms)

photography (the process of producing images of objects on photosensitive surfaces)

processing (preparing or putting through a prescribed procedure)

reversible process (any process in which a system can be made to pass through the same states in the reverse order when the process is reversed)

sensitisation; sensitization ((psychology) the process of becoming highly sensitive to specific events or situations (especially emotional events or situations))

defining; shaping (any process serving to define the shape of something)

variation (the process of varying or being varied)

• PROCESS (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Subject to a process or treatment, with the aim of readying for some purpose, improving, or remedying a condition

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

process; treat

Context example:

treat an oil spill

Hypernyms (to "process" is one way to...):

affect; bear on; bear upon; impact; touch; touch on (have an effect upon)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "process"):

propagate (cause to propagate, as by grafting or layering)

iodise; iodize (treat with iodine)

nitrate (treat with nitric acid, so as to change an organic compound into a nitrate)

tank (treat in a tank)

aerate; oxygenate; oxygenise; oxygenize (impregnate, combine, or supply with oxygen)

mercerise; mercerize (treat to strengthen and improve the luster)

malt (treat with malt or malt extract)

fluoridate; fluoridise; fluoridize (subject to fluoridation; treat with fluoride)

creosote (treat with creosote)

chlorinate (treat or combine with chlorine)

carbonate (treat with carbon dioxide)

camphorate (treat with camphor)

bromate; brominate (treat with bromine)

ammoniate (treat with ammonia)

irradiate; ray (expose to radiation)

scald (treat with boiling water)

refine (treat or prepare so as to put in a usable condition)

nitrify; nitrogenise; nitrogenize (treat with nitrogen or a nitrogen compound)

reverberate (treat, process, heat, melt, or refine in a reverberatory furnace)

curry (treat by incorporating fat)

seed (sprinkle with silver iodide particles to disperse and cause rain)

dose (treat with an agent; add (an agent) to)

sulfur; sulphur (treat with sulphur in order to preserve)

vulcanise; vulcanize (subject to vulcanization)

chrome (treat with a chromium compound)

bituminise; bituminize (treat with bitumen)

Agenise; Agenize (age or bleach flour with Agene (nitrogen trichloride))

run (cause to perform)

carboxylate (treat (a chemical compound) with carboxyl or carboxylic acid)

beneficiate (process (ores or other raw materials), as by reduction)

digest (convert food into absorbable substances)

fume; fumigate (treat with fumes, expose to fumes, especially with the aim of disinfecting or eradicating pests)

air-condition (control the humidity and temperature of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

processing (preparing or putting through a prescribed procedure)

processor (a business engaged in processing agricultural products and preparing them for market)

processor (someone who processes things (foods or photographs or applicants etc.))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Deal with in a routine way

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

process the applicants

Hypernyms (to "process" is one way to...):

care; deal; handle; manage (be in charge of, act on, or dispose of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

process (a particular course of action intended to achieve a result)

processing (preparing or putting through a prescribed procedure)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Perform mathematical and logical operations on (data) according to programmed instructions in order to obtain the required information

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Context example:

The results of the elections were still being processed when he gave his acceptance speech

Hypernyms (to "process" is one way to...):

calculate; cipher; compute; cypher; figure; reckon; work out (make a mathematical calculation or computation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

processor ((computer science) the part of a computer (a microprocessor chip) that does most of the data processing)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

action; litigate; process; sue

Context example:

She actioned the company for discrimination

Hypernyms (to "process" is one way to...):

challenge (issue a challenge to)

Verb group:

litigate (engage in legal proceedings)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "process"):

expedite (process fast and efficiently)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

process (a writ issued by authority of law; usually compels the defendant's attendance in a civil suit; failure to appear results in a default judgment against the defendant)

Sense 5

Meaning:

March in a procession

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

march; process

Context example:

They processed into the dining room

Hypernyms (to "process" is one way to...):

walk (use one's feet to advance; advance by steps)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "process"):

file (proceed in line)

parade; promenade; troop (march in a procession)

goose step (march in a military fashion)

countermarch (march back along the same way)

debouch; march out (march out (as from a defile) into open ground)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

The children process to the playground

Sense 6

Meaning:

Shape, form, or improve a material

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

process; work; work on

Context example:

work the metal

Hypernyms (to "process" is one way to...):

transform; transmute; transubstantiate (change or alter in form, appearance, or nature)

Verb group:

forge; form; mold; mould; shape; work (make something, usually for a specific function)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "process"):

hot-work (roll, press, forge, or shape (metal) while hot)

cold work; coldwork (shape (metal) without heat)

overwork (use too much)

make over; retread; rework (use again in altered form)

rack (work on a rack)

tool (work with a tool)

till (work land as by ploughing, harrowing, and manuring, in order to make it ready for cultivation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

process (a particular course of action intended to achieve a result)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Deliver a warrant or summons to someone

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

process; serve; swear out

Context example:

He was processed by the sheriff

Hypernyms (to "process" is one way to...):

deliver (bring to a destination, make a delivery)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "process"):

subpoena (serve or summon with a subpoena)

rinse; wash (clean with some chemical process)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody with something

Derivation:

process (a writ issued by authority of law; usually compels the defendant's attendance in a civil suit; failure to appear results in a default judgment against the defendant)

 Context examples 

If you are closing on a house, don’t rush the process.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

You feel your way with the speed of light, by some hyperrational process, to truth.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

‘Ah!’ said he carelessly, ‘we have our own process.’

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He helped the process with his fingers, working loose small ice-chunks that fell rattling to the floor.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

They found that this reversible process was tightly controlled by enzymes which chemically alter FUS making it able or unable to form droplets and gels.

(Mechanism behind neuron death in motor neurone disease and frontotemporal dementia discovered, University of Cambridge)

The researchers took several steps to compare the energy efficiency and environmental effects of corn production and processing for food and for biofuel.

(Corn better used as food than biofuel, National Science Foundation)

A process that analyzes data from different studies done about the same subject.

(Meta-analysis, NCI Dictionary)

An infectious process caused by bacteria of the Actinomyces species.

(Actinomycosis, NCI Thesaurus)

A cancer gene that plays a role in the suppression of metastasis, a process whereby cancer spreads from one part of the body to another.

(Metastasis Suppressor Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

The process of conceiving a baby.

(Method of Conception, NCI Thesaurus)