process

[[t]pro͟ʊses, AM prɑ͟ːses[/t]]

♦

processes, processing, processed

1) N-COUNT: oft supp N, N of n A process is a series of actions which are carried out in order to achieve a particular result.

There was total agreement to start the peace process as soon as possible...

They decided to spread the building process over three years...

The best way to proceed is by a process of elimination.

2) N-COUNT A process is a series of things which happen naturally and result in a biological or chemical change.

It occurs in elderly men, apparently as part of the ageing process...

The regularity with which this occurs suggests that the process is genetically determined.

3) VERB When raw materials or foods are processed, they are prepared in factories before they are used or sold.

[be V-ed] ...fish which are processed by the best methods: from freezing to canning and smoking...

[be V-ed into n] The material will be processed into plastic pellets.

[V-ed] ...diets high in refined and processed foods. [Also V n]

Derived words:

processing N-UNCOUNT usu with supp

America sent cotton to England for processing.

...nuclear fuel processing plant.

N-COUNT

Process is also a noun.

...the cost of re-engineering the production process.

4) VERB When people process information, they put it through a system or into a computer in order to deal with it.

→ See also word processing

[V n] ...facilities to process the data, and the right to publish the results...

[V n] The information gathered by the telescopes will be processed by computers.

Derived words:

processing N-UNCOUNT supp N

...data processing...

The advances in communications altered the nature of information processing.

5) VERB: usu passive When people are processed by officials, their case is dealt with in stages and they pass from one stage of the process to the next.

[be V-ed] Patients took more than two hours to be processed through the department.

6) PHRASE: V inflects, usu v-link PHR If you are in the process of doing something, you have started to do it and are still doing it.

The administration is in the process of drawing up a peace plan...

Her novel is in the process of being turned into a television series.

7) PHRASE: PHR with cl If you are doing something and you do something else in the process, you do the second thing as part of doing the first thing.

He finished ahead of the Spaniard, and in the process picked up his first time trial win as a pro...

You have to let us struggle for ourselves, even if we must die in the process.