Meanings
plural proceedings · alternative obsolete proceding
- The act of one who proceeds, or who prosecutes a design or transaction.
- An event or happening; something that happens.
I had a grandstand view of the proceedings.
2 more examples
He had often painted himself at a mirror, a tortuous and fascinating proceeding, as every artist knows, and had been forced to admire the way in which he was made.
1919, Rita Wellman, The Wings of DesireIt was with feelings of no small astonishment, when the carriage drew up before the door with the red lamp, and the very legible inscription of ‘Sawyer, late Nockemorf,’ that Mr. Pickwick saw, on popping his head out of the coach window, the boy in the gray livery very busily employed in putting up the shutters—the which, being an unusual and an unbusinesslike proceeding at that hour of the morning, at once suggested to his mind two inferences: the one, that some good friend and patient of Mr. Bob Sawyer’s was dead; the other, that Mr. Bob Sawyer himself was bankrupt.
1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 50, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLCSynonyms: befalling, incident, affair, befalling, episode, instance, event, goings-on
- always in pluralA published collection of papers presented at an academic conference, or representing the acts of a learned society.
- Progress or movement from one thing to another.
1 more example
I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLCSynonyms: procedure
- A measure or step taken in a course of business; a transaction.
an illegal proceeding
2 more examples
a cautious or a violent proceeding
The proceedings of the high commission.
1848, Lord Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the SecondSynonyms: measure, step, transaction
- lawAny legal action, especially one that is not a lawsuit.
December 7 2016, Kelly Phillips Erb writing in Forbes, House Says No To Renewed Efforts To Impeach IRS Commissioner Since impeachment is a legal proceeding, while anyone can make a motion to start the process, the Judiciary Committee determines whether there are sufficient grounds for impeachment.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn event or happening; something that happens.
nounProgress or movement from one thing to another.
nounA measure or step taken in a course of business; a transaction.
More synonyms by meaning
noun(law) the institution of a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
By surface analysis, proceed + -ing.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian трудове, процес
- трудове (trudove)collection of academic papers
- процес (proces)legal action
Dutch vooruitgang
- vooruitgangprogress or movement
Esperanto proceso, juĝafero
- procesolegal action
- juĝaferolegal action
Finnish kanne, liike
- kannelaw: act of one who proceeds
- liikeprogress or movement
- toimenpidemeasure taken in business, transaction
French acte
- actecollection of academic papers
Indonesian prosiding, laporan konferensi
- prosidingcollection of academic papers
- laporan konferensicollection of academic papers
Italian procedimento
- procedimentolegal action
Malay rekod
- rekodcollection of academic papers
Portuguese processo, anais
- processolaw: act of one who proceeds
- anaiscollection of academic papers
- transaçãomeasure taken in business, transaction
- procedimentolegal action
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with proceeding
Anagrams
Cite this entry
proceeding. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/proceeding
“proceeding.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/proceeding. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “proceeding,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/proceeding.
Source: proceeding on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.