process

1. process (noun) — sense 1

Definition: A series of events leading to a result or product.

Example: This product of last month's quality standards committee is quite good, even though the process was flawed.

2. process (noun) — sense 2

Definition: The set of procedures used in the manufacture of a product, especially in the food and chemical industries.

3. process (noun) — sense 3

Definition: A path or succession of states through which a system passes.

Example: We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.

4. process (verb) — sense 4

Definition: To perform a particular process on a thing.

Example: Processing the harvested cocoons begins with grading and then boiling them in soapy water to soften the sericin that binds the fibers together.

5. process (verb) — sense 5

Definition: To retrieve, store, classify, manipulate, transmit etc. (data, signals, etc.), especially using computer techniques.

Example: We have processed the data using our proven techniques, and have come to the following conclusions.

6. process (verb) — sense 6

Definition: To think about a piece of information, or a concept, in order to assimilate it, and perhaps accept it in a modified state.

Example: I didn't know she had a criminal record. That will take me a while to process.