(~es, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
A ~ is a series of actions which are carried out in order to achieve a particular result.
There was total agreement to start the peace ~ as soon as possible...
The best way to proceed is by a ~ of elimination.
N-COUNT: oft supp N, N of n
2.
A ~ 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 ~...
N-COUNT
3.
When raw materials or foods are ~ed, they are prepared in factories before they are used or sold.
...fish which are ~ed by freezing, canning or smoking...
The material will be ~ed into plastic pellets.
...diets high in refined and ~ed foods.
VERB: be V-ed, be V-ed into n, V-ed
•
Process is also a noun.
...the cost of re-engineering the production ~.
N-COUNT
~ing
America sent cotton to England for ~ing.
N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp
4.
When people ~ information, they put it through a system or into a computer in order to deal with it.
...facilities to ~ the data, and the right to publish the results...
VERB: V n
~ing
...data ~ing...
N-UNCOUNT: supp N
see also word ~ing
5.
When people are ~ed by officials, their case is dealt with in stages and they pass from one stage of the ~ to the next.
Patients took more than two hours to be ~ed through the department.
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed
6.
If you are in the ~ of doing something, you have started to do it and are still doing it.
The administration is in the ~ of drawing up a peace plan...
PHRASE: V inflects, usu v-link PHR
7.
If you are doing something and you do something else in the ~, you do the second thing as part of doing the first thing.
You have to let us struggle for ourselves, even if we must die in the ~.
PHRASE: PHR with cl