procedure

Noun

procedure (countable and uncountable, plural procedures)

1. A particular method for performing a task.
   • One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891

   Synonyms:

   algorithm, method, process, routine

2. A series of small tasks or steps taken to accomplish an end.
3. (uncountable) The set of established forms or methods of an organized body for accomplishing a certain task or tasks.
   • Ensure that you follow procedure when accessing customers' personal information.

   Synonyms:

   protocol

4. The steps taken in an action or other legal proceeding.
   • Gracious procedures.1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC
5. (obsolete) That which results; issue; product.
   • There is not any known Substance, but Earth, and the Procedure of Earth (as Tile, Stone, &c.) that yeeldeth any Moss or Herby Substance.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted...
6. A subroutine coded to perform a specific task, which is not permitted a return value when distinguished from a function.
7. A surgical operation.