processes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of process.

   Manufacturing processes have become far more automated over the past decade.

   Biological processes in the cell depend on a steady supply of energy.

   Note

   One spelling serves two words here: this plural and the present-tense verb, as in "it processes data." As a noun, the plural reaches every sense of process. It covers industrial methods, the stages a system passes through, a court's summonses and writs, and, in anatomy, outgrowths of tissue where muscles attach. Context decides which is meant: legal processes are documents, while anatomical processes are parts of the body.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of process.

   The software processes large datasets in just a few seconds.

   Our team processes every application within two business days.

   Note

   The whole range of the verb travels with this form. A lab processes film, a computer processes signals, and a grieving friend processes bad news, which is the figurative sense of taking something in and coming to terms with it. One use stands apart: in liturgy, a choir processes up the aisle, walking in procession. That use takes no object, unlike every other sense.

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