protocols
- 1Plural of protocol.
Emergency protocols were activated the moment the alarm sounded.
Diplomatic protocols govern how visiting heads of state are received.
Note
The plural is regular, but it belongs only to the countable uses. Where protocol names something uncounted, it stays singular. Counted, it covers quite distinct things: official records of negotiations, amendments added to a treaty, the set formulas opening or closing a charter or papal bull, and a scientist's original notes on an experiment. Context, not form, tells the reader which is meant.
protocols is a form of protocol
protocol, noun: An accepted code of conduct; the behavior considered acceptable in a particular situation or group. Full entry
- Forms
- protocolprotocols plural
- Spelling
- protocol → protocols: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /s/.
Use it in a sentence
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